Losing Sight of a Heartfelt Dream
by The Steppy One
Summary: ‘What happened Ron? Why are things like this? A few months ago I was the happiest person in the world, my nightmare was finally over. Why do I get the feeling I’m starting in another?’ ‘Maybe one has started.’ Her heart sank.
1. Chapter 1 Living Life to the Fullest

**For all of those who wanted a sequel to 'Losing Sight of a Falling Star' well, here it is! To be honest this was initially going to be the end of Falling Star but that would have dragged on far too long and it just made more sense to have it as a different story.**

**So...it's set a few months after the end of the other, starting on the1st of January (Falling Star is set August/September)and is mainly relationship orientated as opposed to magic related. Some people may have a problem with the lack of magic but hopefully not too many. The main theme is Ron coping with life now things are back to 'normal' with a few twists and turns along the way.**

**As ever let me know what you think, please :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, (excpet the oddfew,namely the ones you haven't heard of!)spells or place names, J K Rowling does, genius woman!**

**Step ;)**

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Chapter 1 Living Life to the Fullest

Hermione opened her eyes and struggled to focus them on the ceiling. When she eventually did she stretched her arms above her and then let them flop onto the bed. Unfortunately her right elbow landed on something solid and pain coursed through the nerve making her hand burn and tingle.

'Oww! Merlin that hurt!' she exclaimed.

She turned her head to the right and looked at what her elbow had landed on. It was her boyfriend's skull.

Ron was sprawled on the bed lying on his front, hair stuck up at every angle and mouth open.

'_Sexy_!' Hermione said aloud, 'Ron, I've just elbowed you in the head and you are _still_ asleep. How is that p…p…' she yawned, 'possible?'

She was met by silence; Ron was still asleep. To be fair to him, there was a very good reason for this; it was the first of January, and last night (and most of the early hours of this morning) had been spent celebrating the arrival of a new year.

Hermione looked at her clock and sighed. She read half past nine, she had been asleep for all of five hours. She reached over and picked up the pint glass of water she had half drunk the night before as she got ready for bed, and finished it off.

She smiled as she remembered the fun they had had last night, drinking much more than they knew was good for them, but not caring a bit. The year they were seeing in was going to be a good one. One that was going to be free of mass killings, malicious destruction, and living in fear. This was the year in which they would spend each day living life to the fullest.

She had only been remembering the previous night for a minute or so before she had fallen fast asleep again, her arm hanging over the edge of the bed. She was so deep in slumber that she didn't notice Ron roll over in his sleep, and didn't feel his arm land across her neck as he did so.

…oooOOOooo…

A couple of hours later and Hermione stirred but was restricted in her movement by Ron's arm, which was still led across her neck. When she realised what was stopping her from moving her head and constricting her breathing slightly she managed to roll over.

'Oh for- Ron! _Get off me_!'

She lifted his arm off her and dropped it on the bed next to her.

'Ron wake up!' she got no response.

'RON YOU LAZY GIT! OPEN YOUR EYES!'

Ron snorted as he jerked awake, lifting his head off the pillow an inch. The hair on the left hand side of his head was stuck straight up whereas that on the right was reaching in every conceivable angle.

'Boy do you look sexy in the morning!' Hermione said with a smile on her face.

'Huh?' Ron said. His eyes were barely open but he managed to prop himself up on his elbows.

'How are you feeling?' Hermione asked with a smile, expecting Ron's answer to make her laugh.

'Tired,' Ron replied.

'Headache?'

Ron shook his head from side to side. Hermione wasn't sure if he was saying no or checking whether his head was hurting.

'No, no headache.'

'Okay, how is _that_ possible?'

'What do you mean?' Ron asked whilst rolling on to his back and pushing himself into a sitting position.

'Ron, you and Harry nearly drank Hogsmeade dry last night! I'm surprised you're not in St. Mungo's with alcohol poisoning!'

Ron looked at her, eyebrows raised.

'Stop exaggerating Hermione, we didn't drink _that_ much.'

'Ron, you and Harry were _dancing_…_together_. It was rather sweet actually, you made a very cute couple!'

'Yeah right, I don't believe _that_ for a second. I think I'd remem- oh…'

Hermione laughed.

'Is it all flooding back to you my darling? Oh but wait, can I call you that? I mean after last night I'm not so sure. Do Ginny and I have something to worry about?'

Ron slowly turned red and glared at Hermione. She smiled a cheeky grin at him before getting out of bed and going to the bathroom. She emerged from the shower ten minutes later and went downstairs to make coffee for the four of them. She heard Harry and Ginny talking as she passed Harry's room so knew they were awake and Ron wouldn't say no to a fresh cup of coffee.

She took four mugs out of the cupboard; Harry's red and gold one with the roaring lion, Ron's bright orange Chudley Cannons one, Ginny's personalised one – Molly had collected tokens from 'Witch Weekly' to claim her free gift – and finally her own, a plain royal blue one that kept your drink at the temperature you wanted – her mum and dad had loved the ones she bought them.

As she was spooning the various amounts of sugar into each mug Harry came into the room and sat down at the table.

'Morning Harry,' Hermione said cheerily as he sat down.

'Uh huh,' Harry mumbled to the table, he had folded his arms on it and rested his head on his arms.

Hermione smiled as she looked at him.

'Bad head?' she asked.

'You could say that.'

'Well, I hate to point this out, actually I don't at all, but you _did_ bring this on yourself!'

'Yes _thank you_ Hermione, I am well aware of _why _I have a headache. I suppose I should take comfort in knowing that Ron will be feeling as bad, if not worse than me!'

'I hate to disappoint you Saviour Boy, but Ron say's he's feeling fine this morning, if a little tired.'

Harry lifted his head off the table and stared at Hermione.

'How in the name of Merlin is _that _possible?'

Hermione laughed, 'to be honest I have no idea. I expected him to be feeling really rough this morning, but apparently not. Why are you up and about if you aren't feeling so good?'

'Ah well…I…I have something to tell you.'

'What's that?' Hermione asked as she poured the boiling water into the mugs.'

'Well, in my drunken state last night, I _think_…well…actually I _know_ I kind of…asked Ginny to move in with us,' he said in a rush.

Hermione raised her eyebrows as she opened the fridge door and took the milk out for her coffee.

'I just wanted to say I'm sorry for asking her without asking you first. You don't mind do you?'

Hermione kept her face straight for a few seconds watching Harry become more and more flustered at the thought that he had upset her. After thirty seconds Hermione could keep a straight face no longer, she burst out laughing.

'What?' Harry asked.

'Look at you all concerned! Of course I don't mind, the girl's my best friend and there's plenty of room for four of us here. To be fair she practically lives here anyway so there's not gonna be much of a change is there?'

'No I suppose not, thanks H.'

'Er…I hate to bring this up but did you ask Ron first?'

Harry thought hard for a second, 'I've been trying to remember that since I woke up this morning! I think I started trying to ask him but I'm not sure if I finished asking the question!'

'Well I suggest you find out pretty fast!'

Hermione poured the milk into her mug and walked over to the bin to put the empty carton in. She was about to drop it in when something caught her eye. She bent over and took the small glass bottle out of the bin and smiled to herself. So _that's_ how he managed to avoid the headache, she thought.

'I think I've discovered Ron's secret!'

She placed the bottle on the table in front of Harry who squinted, trying to read the small writing on the label.

The bright purple label read,

_Weasley's Wizard Wheezes_

_Hangover Hell Obliviator_

_Take after a night out to guarantee no headaches, nausea_

_or ANY other side effect from over indulgence in ANY variety of alcohol._

'_As if_ he didn't share this with me, selfish git! Oh but wait…' Harry smiled broadly and started chuckling.

'Why are you laughing?' Hermione asked.

'I'm afraid I can't tell you that, Ron would do me severe physical harm. However, if he refuses to be ok with Ginny moving into the same house as me, I may use it for blackmail!'

'Harry James Potter tell me _exactly_ why you were laughing or I'll hex you into next week!'

Harry held his hands up in protest, 'Hermione, I couldn't possibly tell you!' he started to speak slowly and purposefully, '_I couldn't possibly tell you what_ _Fred and George made Ron do for that little bottle of potion, in the middle of Hogsmeade village last night_!'

Hermione surveyed Harry and decided he had just told her exactly what she needed to get all the information she could want. They were going to the Burrow for dinner tonight, and she was pretty sure either Fred or George wouldn't mind telling Hermione _exactly_ what she wanted to know.

She turned away from Harry and picked their mugs up from the bench and handed Harry his. He took it gratefully and sipped at it.

'There's painkillers in the drawer Harry, you don't want that headache of yours to get any worse now do you?'

'No Hermione I don't, thank you for reminding me where they are.'

'You're welcome Harry. Don't let Ginny's coffee go cold, you know how she gets when it's not how she likes it.'

'Don't I just. Thanks H!'

'No no Harry, thank _you_!'

She left the kitchen and walked up the stairs carefully carrying Ron's mug. She walked into her – their – room and saw Ron was once again fast asleep on the bed.

'Ron. Ron! Wake up! I've made you some coffee.'

'I wasn't asleep! I was resting my eyes.'

'Hmm, I'll believe you, thousands wouldn't. Did er…did Harry talk to you about Ginny last night?' she asked innocently.

Ron closed his eyes as he tried to remember all the conversations he had had with his best friend whilst ever so slightly drunk.

'Er…I can't remember, why?'

'Oh nothing,' she replied. She had to turn away so Ron couldn't see her grinning into her mug of coffee.

'What time are we due at the Burrow tonight?' she asked once she had straightened her face.

'Seven…I think. What time are we going to see _your_ parents?'

'You mean my parents, my Aunty Christine and Uncle Tony and my fantastically annoying cousin Rachel who I have somehow managed to avoid in the last three months?'

'Er…you didn't tell me they were going too!'

'No, I didn't, did I. Lunch is at one so to be polite…is half twelve okay?'

'What time is it now?' Ron asked.

Hermione looked at her alarm clock.

'Merlin! It's twelve o'clock all ready!'

'I wondered why I was so hungry! Ah well I'd better get up then, hadn't I?'

'Yes you had. Oh God, what am I going to wear?'

'Hermione you're going to see your parents, what does it matter what you wear?'

'If it was just mum and dad I wouldn't be bothered, but I have this ongoing battle with Rachel about who is the smartest, best, most popular, most fashionable and the suchlike so I have to at least try and look half decent.'

'Okay, who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?'

'Very funny.'

'Hermione, since when have you been bothered about impressing people with what you _wear_?'

'It's shallow I know, but…I can't help it with Rachel, she always looks so…_polished_, and…oh I don't know.'

Ron got off the bed and stood behind Hermione who was now searching through her – their – wardrobe. He took her by the shoulders and turned her round so she was facing him.

'Hermione, does Rachel have a boyfriend?'

'Er…no I don't think so. Why?'

'Well, maybe that's why she feels the need to look so…polished as you said. You, on the other hand, have a boyfriend who thinks you're gorgeous regardless of what you wear. Now if _I_ pick out something for you, you can wear it and if Rachel has the cheek to question you about it, you can tell her it's my favourite outfit; that should shut her up! And to make things even better I'll put the shirt and jeans on which you like me in best and look as sexy as hell!'

Hermione laughed, 'Okay, who are you and what've you done with my boyfriend.'

Ron smiled.

'Actually,' Hermione continued, 'I think that's a great idea. I know it's silly to get so competitive over clothes and stuff like that, but I always feel I have to be brilliant at everything for mum and dad's sake. Aunty Christine goes on and on about Rachel to mum and dad, it's only recently that they've been able to tell them what I've actually been doing for the past nine years, so I feel I owe it to them. You don't love me anymore do you?'

Ron laughed.

'Don't worry, I've come to accept your insanity as part of you and I love you in spite of that!'

'Why _thank you_ Ronald. Can I ask one thing of you though, when it comes to your appearance?'

'You can.'

'Will you _please_ do something about your hair?'

Ron felt his hair and realised it was sticking up at all angles. He smiled.

'Don't worry, I won't go to see your parents with 'Potter hair'.'

Hermione laughed, 'Good, Harry might get an inflated ego if he thinks you're copying him.'

'HA! Like I need to copy Saviour Boy when I have my own style!'

'Yes Ron…you definitely have your own…style!'


	2. Chapter 2 Explained in an Afternoon

**Hello, next chapter for you, hope you like. Kind of a chapter that should have happened in Losing Sight, but it wasn't really relevant so I thought I'd put it in here. I think it's quite fun, well most of it. Shouldn't be too long before the next one.**

**Cheers**

**Sarah ;)**

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Chapter 2 – Explained in an Afternoon

Hermione and Ron apparated to the tree in Hermione's back garden. Ron checked the coast was clear before taking Hermione by the hand and leading her up the stepping-stones to the house.

As they walked up the path at the side of the house Hermione spotted the large silver BMW parked in front of the driveway.

'Oh good, they're already here!'

'Now now Hermione, don't be unkind!'

'If, Ronald, at the end of this afternoon you can look me in the eye and say you didn't once get annoyed by them and their questioning, because believe me, there _will_ be questioning, then, and only then can you call me unkind, all right?'

Ron smiled.

'Yes Hermione. Now ring the doorbell.'

Hermione did as she was told and they waited for someone to open the door. Charles came to let them in looking slightly flustered, but he smiled when he saw Hermione and Ron on the doorstep.

They walked into the house and put their coats in the cloakroom, leaving their wands in their coats. It really was cloak weather but it was hardly the occasion to wear them.

'Ready to meet the extended family Ron?' Charles asked.

'Yes I am.'

'Good, because believe me they can't wait to meet you!'

'Er…I don't want to sound rude or anything, but why?'

Charles smiled, 'Well, as much as we told them about Hermione being a witch, I don't know if they really took in the magnitude of the situation. So both of you be prepared for _a lot_ of questions this afternoon.'

'Oh good, just what I wanted, interrogation!' Hermione said, the sarcasm obvious.

'Hermione, be good,' Charles said with a smile.

'Don't worry dad, I will!'

The three of them went into the lounge and instantly the room went quiet. Jan remedied the situation.

'Hermione! Ron! You're here.'

Jan hugged her daughter and did the same with Ron. Ron's ears went slightly pink, but it went unnoticed by everyone, except Hermione. She smiled, laughing silently to herself.

'Sorry we're a little late everyone. We er…didn't quite get up on time, I'm sure you can figure out why!'

Hermione walked over to her Uncle Tony and he stood up to give her a hug hello.

'Lovely to see you Hermione.'

'You too Uncle Tony.' She walked to her aunt, 'you look well Aunty Christine.'

'Thank you Hermione.'

'Can I introduce you to my boyfriend Ron. Ron this is my Uncle Tony and Aunty Christine and…I would introduce you to Rachel but…'

'She's just upstairs on the phone, she shouldn't be long,' Tony said. He stood up and walked to Ron with an outstretched hand.

'Nice to meet you Ron.'

'Nice to meet you too,' Ron replied politely.

'What, no 'sir' Ron?' Charles asked, smiling. Jan and Hermione laughed.

'You're not going to let me forget that are you Charles?'

'No, sorry, I'm not.' He looked at Tony who was looking confused. 'When Hermione first introduced Ron to us he couldn't quite get out of the habit of calling me 'sir'. It was quite entertaining I must say!'

'If I could turn back time, that would be one thing I would change. Unfortunately, thanks to our friend Neville, that's no longer possible.'

Hermione giggled. Ron walked over to Christine and shook her hand. Hermione couldn't help but try and read Christine's expression as she looked at Ron, but Christine was well practiced in giving gracious smiles which gave nothing away. The party sat down, adults on the chairs and the sofa, Hermione and Ron next to each other on the floor. Gracious smiles were exchanged but no one really knew what to say. After an uncomfortable thirty seconds Tony broke the silence.

'So Hermione, you're a witch.'

Hermione and Ron laughed and the tension eased in the room.

'Yes I am Uncle Tony. I'm sorry I wasn't able to explain anything the last time I saw you, but there was a lot going on. I'm sure mum and dad did quite well in explaining everything.'

'Well, they explained some things, but not everything.'

'We weren't sure how much we could say Hermione. We didn't want to get you into trouble,' Jan said.

'Well, Hermione can't really do any wrong in the Ministry's eyes, so I don't think there'll be much of a problem,' Ron said, grinning.

Hermione looked at Ron, slightly exasperated at his attitude towards bending the law. She composed herself and turned away from Ron.

'As long as you don't tell the anyone anything we tell you then, I'll try and answer anything you ask.'

'Hermione who do you think would believe us?' Tony asked with a smile on his face.

'Good point,' Hermione said. 'Well what do you want to know? Oh, you do know Ron's a wizard don't you?'

'Yes, Charlie mentioned it.'

Ron looked confused but then realised Tony was talking about Hermione's dad.

'Oh!' he said quietly as he worked this out.

'What?' Hermione asked.

'Nothing, just the name 'Charlie' confused me.' He looked at Christine and Tony before continuing. 'One of my older brothers is called Charlie, and I've never heard Charles called that before, it confused me.'

'How many brothers do you have Ron?' Christine asked.

'Well, we're quite a big family. I have five brothers, all of them older than me, and a younger sister.'

'Wow, that is a big family, do you get to see them all?' Tony asked.

'Er…not all of them. You see, well, Bill – he's the oldest – he's a curse-breaker for the wizarding bank Gringott's. He gets sent all over the world to collect treasure for them, so we don't see him that often. Charlie, he er…he lives in Romania and works with dragons, so we only see him when he's got time off. We see Fred and George – they're twins – a lot, they own a joke shop in Diagon Alley…er…that's a wizarding street in London. So they're the only two we see on a regular basis.'

'Er, Ron…you forgot Percy,' Hermione said quietly.

'Oh Merlin! Well you can hardly blame me for forgetting the stupid-'

'Ron, focus!' Hermione said quickly, but with half a smile.

'Sorry. Percy works for the Ministry of Magic as Junior Assistant to the Minister. We don't see him a lot…he…er…he fell out with the family a few years ago…things are a bit better, but it's still a bit tense when we see him.'

'What about your sister Ron? What does she do?' Christine asked.

'Ginny's training to be a Healer with St. Mungo's, the wizard hospital in London.'

'Ah, that reminds me,' Tony said, 'I'm afraid Charlie wasn't that coherent when he tried to explain what you were training to be Hermione. I think he mentioned the word…Aurorer?'

Hermione smiled.

'Well I'm training to be an _Auror_. I suppose it's the equivalent of training to be in the police in the muggle world. The official line is 'dark wizard catcher' which actually sums it up quite well!'

'And what do _you_ do Ron?' Christine asked.

Before Ron could answer Rachel came into the room, still looking at her mobile phone.

'Sorry about that, apparently there's a bit of a-' she finally looked up from her phone and spotted Hermione and Ron sat on the floor. 'Oh, hi Hermione.'

'Hello Rachel. Ron, this is Rachel. Rachel, Ron.'

'Pleased to meet you,' Rachel said sweetly.

Ron smiled, 'you too.'

'Ron, you were about to tell us what you do for a living,' prompted Christine.

'Well actually, at the minute I'm not doing anything. I'll start training as an Auror in July, I couldn't start at the same time as Hermione and Harry because…well…I was in St. Mungo's, for a couple of months.'

'Nothing serious I hope,' Tony said.

'Well, I suppose it wasn't, there was nothing physically wrong with me. I'd been hit by an everlasting sleep spell in the final battle and it was only because Hermione risked, well, a lot to find out how to counter the spell that I woke up.'

'Did you just say 'final battle'?' Rachel asked.

Subtle as ever Rachel, Hermione thought.

'Er…yes…yes I did,' Ron replied.

'Dare I ask?' Tony said with a smile sliding across his face.

'I think I'll let Hermione explain that one.'

…oooOOOooo…

It was a good half hour before Hermione had finished filling her extended family in on the recent past of the wizarding world, including the events of the last two years and her and Ron's involvement in it all. Needless to say there were three very shocked faces looking at both Ron and Hermione when she had finished.

Luckily for the witch and wizard they were granted a few minutes of peace while Jan served their buffet style lunch.

As they were sitting down around the large dining table Hermione yawned, so much so she thought she might have dislocated her jaw in the process.

'Tired Hermione?' Charles asked.

'A little.'

'That's disgraceful Hermione!' Ron said with a sly grin on his face.

Hermione raised her eyebrows, 'yes well, not all of us were able to take a 'Hangover Obliviator' were we Ron?'

Ron's smile slipped off his face, 'how did you-?'

'I suggest if you want to try and hide something from me, you find a better place to put any evidence than the kitchen bin. Harry is _not_ impressed with you.'

'Wait,' Christine said from the other end of the table, 'do you two _live together_.'

Oh crap! Hermione thought.

'Forget _that_ question, you have a 'Hangover Obliviator'?' Tony asked.

Ron laughed, 'yes, my brothers sell it in their shop, it's very popular but it takes them a long time to brew, so it's in limited supply.'

Which is why you did something, probably something rude to get it off them, Hermione thought to herself. She remembered Christine had asked a question, an interesting one at that.

'And yes, we do live together, with Harry and Ginny as well. The four of us share quite a large house,' Hermione answered.

'Four of us? Don't you mean three? Ginny doesn't live with us.'

Oh, _well done_ Hermione! She turned to look at Ron.

'Yeah, you need to talk to Harry when we get back!' she said to him quietly.

Ron went slightly pink but managed to keep his slight emotions under control.

The rest of the meal was spent chatting amicably and to Rachel's relief some of the attention was back on her. Hermione was polite and asked her about her life at university and the house she shared with four of her friends.But very often Tony would ask Hermione and Ron another question about magic; he could barely keep his enthusiasm under control, especially when Ron started explaining the rules of Quidditch, and at that point Ron could barely keep _his_ enthusiasm under control.

Whilst the men were talking sport, both wizard and muggle, Hermione thought she'd bring the conversation back to 'normal' with her mum, Christine and Rachel.

They chatted for a while, Hermione steering the conversation back to Rachel if it strayed to near to her or Ron. Every time it did she thought she saw Rachel wilt a little.

About ten minutes before Hermione and Ron were about to leave, Hermione thought she saw Rachel's eyes glisten and her blink tears away, after a look at her phone. Rachel made her apologies and left the lounge. Only Hermione seemed to notice.

'Back in a minute,' she said quietly to Ron.

She stood and left the room quickly but silently, running to the foot of the stairs. She saw Rachel's feet move out of sight when she reached the top. Before she followed her she retrieved her wand out of her jacket pocket. She made her way up the stairs and heard the bathroom door shut. She was walking towards the door when she heard a muffled sob come from the bathroom. She walked quietly to the door.

'Rach? Rachel it's Hermione. Open the door.'

'I'll be out in a minute,' Rachel replied, obviously trying to hide the fact that she was crying.

'Rachel it's obvious you're crying so open the door before I do it myself, you know I can!'

Hermione thought she heard Rachel give a reluctant chuckle, then saw the bathroom door open. Rachel appeared, her eyes red from crying.

'That must come in handy, being able to open locked doors.'

'Yeah it is, what's even more handy is being able to make them impenetrable so you really can hide away and cry. I did my fair share of that when Ron was in hospital.'

'That must have been hard.'

'It was. So what's upsetting you?'

'It's nothing.'

'Rachel, at least _try_ and come up with something more original than that.'

Rachel smiled.

'Let's go in my room, that way we won't be disturbed.'

'Hermione really, it's-'

'Ah! No arguing.' She said with half a smile, 'come on.'

Rachel followed Hermione into her room, reluctantly it has to be said, but nonetheless she followed.

Hermione shut the door with her wand and locked it too. Rachel tried to hide her amazement.

'Rachel,' Hermione started,' I know we haven't always got on very well, personally I blame that on our mothers, trying to prove to one another that we're better than each other when really that's unbelievably unfair on us both, but never mind that. It's obvious you're upset and it would be wrong of me to not try and help in any way I can. So…are you going to tell me what's wrong?'

'You know, we should really do something about our mums you know. You're right, it's not fair.'

'Yeah, and are _you_ going to tell your mum that?'

'Good point. I don't really know why I'm letting myself get this upset really, my boyf- well I don't know if you could call him my boyfriend, this lad I've been seeing, he thinks we shouldn't…anymore.'

'Oh, I'm sorry.'

'Don't be, I should have seen it coming, he was all over this other girl last night, if I'm honest he's a bit of a player.'

'Doesn't mean it hurts any less,' Hermione said quietly.

'No, that's true.'

'Do your mum and dad know?''

'No, they don't even know I was seeing anyone, thought I'd wait a while in case…well…in case something like this happened.'

'I'm really sorry Rachel. Not wishing to sound big headed, but I'm guessing having me and Ron fawn over each other all afternoon didn't help matters.'

Rachel smiled, 'not really, just showed me what I was missing. I can't help but be jealous of you Hermione.'

'I find that hard to believe.'

'Why?'

'What have you got to be jealous of? You're living the life you've wanted since you were small, you've got a huge group of friends, you're intelligent, and not wishing to sound weird, but you're as pretty as hell too.'

'Yeah, but you have Ron.'

Hermione fell silent.

'I suppose you think it's petty.' Rachel continued.

'Not at all. When Ron was unconscious, I didn't know what was going to happen. I saw Harry and Ginny – my best friends – together and I just wanted to cry. I was so jealous of them being able to just hold each other. Sometimes I just wanted to scream so loudly, but I couldn't, it wouldn't have been fair. It wasn't their fault.'

'Well you know exactly how I feel then.'

'Yes I do.' Hermione checked her watch. 'Rach, I'm really sorry, I'm gonna have to go.'

'That's okay. Thanks for taking the time to listen.'

'Look, as I said, I know we've never been that close, but if you ever want to talk, just give me a ring ok. I'll write my number down for you.'

Hermione found a notepad and biro and wrote the number down on a torn-off piece of paper. She handed it to Rachel.

'Thanks Hermione.'

'Anytime, oh but…if Ron answers the phone, don't worry if he seems a bit strange. He still finds the whole concept of a telephone fascinating. Just humour him.'

Rachel laughed, 'I will.'


	3. Chapter 3 Confessions of a Funny Nature

**Well hello there! Chapter three for you all to read. People have been wondering what Ron had to do to get his hangover cure and here's the revelation! Had too much fun writing this one, ah well, suppose I'd better get on with the next one!**

**Let me know what you think :D Oh and thanks so much for all the reviews so far. They make me smile lots :D :D :D**

**Sarah ;)**

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Chapter 3 – Confessions of a Hysterical Nature

'_He did _WHAT?'

Hermione was glaring at Fred and George and was trying to take in what they had just told her. It had taken all of five seconds to convince the twins to tell her what Ron had been willing to do for a bottle of their precious hangover cure.

'Please, _please_ tell me you're joking,' she asked quietly, having only just found her voice. She knew, however, that the twins were doing anything but lying to her.

The twins looked at each other, they were trying to hide their pride at their achievement but were failing miserably. They grinned at Hermione.

''Fraid not Hermione. We were really quite proud of our ickle Ronniekins, weren't we George.'

'We were indeed Fred, we were indeed!'

'Tell me you got rid of it and it isn't still…_there_!' Hermione whined.

For the first time since she had started speaking to the twins they stopped smiling, but only for a second. Their smiles reappeared and they started laughing hysterically.

'I'll take that as a no shall I?' she mumbled irritably before whipping her head around, searching the room for Ron. She found him sat on the sofa and marched over to him.

'RONALD WEASLEY! FOLLOW ME!'

Ron looked at Hermione, shock filling his face.

'What? 'Mione what's wrong?'

Oh good, she thought, I've lost my first syllable!

'_Just follow me_!'

Ron did as he was told, but not before collecting his drink from the floor, it's temporary resting place.

Hermione marched up the stairs to Ron's room in the Burrow and held the door open for him. When he was in the room she shut the door and locked it with a wave of her wand. Ron had a feeling a simple _Alohomora_ wouldn't open it.

''Mione what's going on? Why have you got that scary look on your face, which is normally only there because I've done something wrong?'

'Ron, last night when I was talking to Ginny and Luna, you came up to me and asked what was going on, but before that I hadn't seen you for a good ten minutes. What had you been doing?'

Ron's ears went pink. _And there's the panic_, Hermione thought.

'Er…I don't know…I can't really remember.'

'Really? That's a surprise! Come here.'

Ron took the few paces separating the two of them. Hermione leaned into him as if she was about to kiss him but stopped just as Ron closed his eyes expectantly. After a few seconds he opened them again, confused as to why Hermione hadn't kissed him. His eyes widened further when he felt her unbuckling his belt.

'Hermione what-? You want to do _that_…_now_?'

She gave him a mischievous grin as she unzipped his jeans. He leaned in to kiss her.

'Ah ah!' she said, 'patience Ronald!'

She spun him round so he was facing away from her. Hermione pulled his shirt up above his jeans and pulled down the waistband of his jeans and his boxers. What she saw confirmed what the twins had told her.

'Wow Ron, you _really_ know how to flatter a girl!'

'Huh?' he asked brought back to earth with a bump from his imagination.

'I'll tell you this, _Ronald_. If you can find a way back in to my good books after this, all credit to you!'

With that she stalked out of the room after unlocking the door leaving a very confused looking Ron in her wake.

'What the bloody hell was _that_ about?' Ron asked himself aloud after he watched Hermione leave the room.

He stood for a minute trying to find some kind of reason for Hermione's very strange behaviour. He listed the facts in his mind. She had been talking to the twins and had been laughing with them, then she was looking murderous and demanded he follow her up the stairs. _Then_ she was being…well…_forward_ was one way of describing it, _and_ _then_ she just left saying something about getting back on her good si-…

'Oh Merlin!' he said quietly.

A thought had flashed through his brain but before he pondered too much on it he twisted round to look at his backside. Not managing to see a great deal he walked over to his empty wardrobe and shuffled in front of the mirror hanging on the inside of the door.

He pulled his jeans and his boxers down so the whole of his backside was on view, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped when he saw what was being reflected.

He closed his eyes and sighed.

'I am in _so_ much trouble!'

…oooOOOooo…

_The village of Hogsmeade was full of happy wizards and witches celebrating the beginning of a new year, one that was going to be different to the previous one in so many ways. The alcohol was flowing and people were dancing in the street to their own music and talking in their large and small groups of friends._

_Ron Weasley was talking to his older brothers, Fred and George._

'_Fred, please will you…will you give me some of the Oblo…Oblvil…Obliviator? I am going to have a _massive_ headache in the morning and 'Mione's going to…to _kill_ me!' Ron pleaded, his words slurred._

'_Ah precious Hermione! Do you love her Ron?' George asked with a smile on his face._

'_What? W…why are you asking me that?' Ron asked, becoming embarrassed at the prospect of talking about his feelings for Hermione with his brothers._

'_Well, you've never actually told us how you feel about her, we were just curious, weren't we George?'_

'_Very!' George replied._

_Ron thought for a minute, and, thinking he was being oh-so-clever decided to try and bargain with his brothers._

'_If I tell you how I feel, will you give me the Oblivil…Obliviator?'_

'_Ronnie, do you _really_ think we would give you a bottle of our precious Obliviator for that? Please!'_

'_Fine! What will it…what will it take?'_

…oooOOOooo…

As the all too clear memories came flooding back to Ron he sighed.

'I've got to find Hermione!'

He walked down the stairs, leaving his drink in his room, and searched the living room for Hermione. She wasn't there so he searched the rest of the house. He eventually found her with Ginny in the small room that was off the side of the kitchen.

'Hermione, can I have a word please?'

She looked up at him and ignored him, continuing her conversation with Ginny. Ginny looked between the two of them and read Hermione's raised eyebrows correctly; this was something she didn't want to be in the middle of. Luckily for her Harry fell into the room at that precise moment so she had an excuse to leave them to whatever they had to talk – or argue – about. Hermione went to follow Harry and Ginny through the door but Ron stood in her way.

'Hermione please.'

'Please what?'

'Please let me explain, I'm sure when I tell you the whole story you'll find it funny!'

'_Funny!_ FUNNY! Ron you have 'I love Hermione Granger' tattooed across your arse in _bright orange glitter_! Not only that, but you spent _ten whole minutes_ last night parading it in front of people I know, who I respect and who _did_ have some respect for me! Merlin knows what they think now! What, exactly, am I supposed to find funny about _that_?'

Ron was trying so hard not too laugh, and he almost managed it. He had composed himself after Hermione's speech but as the memory flashed through his mind once more he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Hermione glared at him and barged past him. Ron managed to grab her arm.

'Hey! Okay, Hermione, I'm _really_ sorry but Fred and George _made me_ do it!'

'No, Ron, they didn't! They told you they would give you their hangover cure if you did it, that _is not_ the same as forcing someone to do something!'

Ron held up his hands in surrender, hoping Hermione would stop throwing her perfect logic at him, there was no way he could argue with it.

'Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. They didn't force me to do it, but I did it anyway. I can't say anything to defend myself, except that I was drunk beyond belief! That's why I wanted to drink the stupid potion in the first place, I didn't want you to get annoyed at me for drinking so bloody much!'

'Don't you dare use that as an excuse! And why the hell would I mind how much you drank? I think it's very safe to say we all had far too much last night but I think we deserved to considering last New Year was possibly the most depressing one we have ever had to endure!'

'So you wouldn't have minded if I'd woken up this morning with a hangover?'

'Ron I was counting on it for morning entertainment! Luckily Harry provided it instead!'

'Oh yes! Speaking of Harry,' Ron started, anger crossing his face. '_Thank you_ for telling me about Harry asking Ginny to move in with us! He asked you this morning and you didn't tell me!'

'Okay, one, don't you dare try and change the subject, and two, why are you getting angry with me? I think the important issue is Harry asked Ginny first before he asked _either of us_! So don't take your anger out on me. That's not fair!'

Ron hung his head and sighed.

'I'm sorry, you're right.'

'Naturally,' she said with half a smile.

Ron laughed and after a few seconds Hermione joined him.

'Seriously though-' Hermione started.

'Do we have to do serious? This is more fun.' Ron asked.

'Just for a little while.' Hermione thought about what she wanted to say but then looked at Ron. He looked worried and she thought she knew why. He hated upsetting her. Once they had argued, bickered, whatever you wanted to call it, he was always sorry, as was she. 'Actually, no, let's not be.'

Ron looked into her eyes and a look of confusion crossed them.

'This argument is pointless, what's done is done, and we can't change that. Just promise me you won't _ever_ parade your arse around Hogsmeade again, glittered or not!'

'I promise I won't. And…I'm…I'm sorry I had a go at you for not telling me about Ginny and Harry. It was up to him to tell me, not you. Truce?'

'Truce. Just please get rid of it. I know you love me, I don't need it tattooed across your arse, especially in orange!'


	4. Chapter 4 A List of Qualities

**:O Have you seen what Zidane just did? That is dispicable behaviour! At least Rooney was sent off for an accident!**

**Anyway...There is slight unrest in the Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny household, and long may it continue, far more interesting to write:D laughs evily**

**Cheers**

**Sarah ;)**

* * *

Chapter 4 – A List of Qualities

'Where do you want this one putting Gin?' Harry asked as he stumbled through the door carrying a big box full of Ginny's things.

'What does it say on the box?' Ginny asked in reply as she rummaged through the box she was sorting through, her back to Harry and kneeling on the floor.

'Er…-'

Harry tried to peer at the edges of the box without dropping it, something which was now quite hard as he had dislodged it from underneath his chin, its previous resting place.

'Er…oh sod this!' he put the box down on the floor where he stood.

Ginny looked up at the thud from the box landing on the floor.

'You know, you have been able to use your wand outside of school for a couple of years now Harry.'

'Thank you _Ginevra_, I left it here in my, or as I should now call it, _our_ room. Although by the looks of things I may as well call it _your_ room!'

'Oh stop complaining, there's only a few of my things dotted around, just 'cause you went for the minimalist look, doesn't mean I have to too!'

'As long as you don't want me to redecorate the room then that's fine!'

'Well, you could do with a brighter colour on your walls, and if I'm honest your curtains are a bit boring.'

Harry raised his eyebrows and was about to answer when Ginny started laughing.

'I'm joking, I'm joking, you know I like your room just how it is.'

'_Our_ room,' he said smiling.

He stepped towards her and pulled her into a hug. She pulled back and kissed him.

Harry was enjoying himself when something hit him on the back of the head. He broke apart from Ginny and spun round.

'What the-?'

A box was floating in mid air at his head height. He looked at the floor and saw Ron's feet.

'RON! What was that for?'

'What was what for?' Ron asked lowering the box to the floor with his wand, an innocent expression on his face.

'Don't act the innocent; you purposely battered me over the head with that box. Why did you do it?'

'I'm sure I have no idea what you mean. That's the last box Ginny,' he turned and walked out of the room.

'Git!' Ginny said once Ron was out of earshot. 'I swear if he carries on behaving like that I'll put him back in that everlasting sleep!'

'Ginny!' Harry said reproachfully.

'Oh all right, I wouldn't go that far. I'd jinx his mouth shut though!'

Harry smiled, 'Ok, I'd let you do that, for a little while anyway. You do know he's only looking out for you in his own…strange…way.'

'Yeah that line wore thin a _long_ time ago. You're his best friend, you may as well be his brother for God's sake!'

'Yeah but that would make what we have extremely immoral and possibly illegal!'

'You know, I thought about that the other day.'

'You WHAT?'

'No not that, sick boy! I meant, you know how Dumbledore sent you to your Aunt and Uncle's instead of to a wizarding family?'

'Yeah.'

'Well, chances are he'd have sent you to live with us. He knew mum and dad well and it would have been good for you growing up with a big family. Mum and dad wouldn't have brought you up thinking you were a little prince; you'd have been as normal as the rest of us! So if that had happened, you really would have been my brother, obviously not biologically but in every other sense.'

'Yeah I suppose I would,' he pulled her into a hug again. 'I prefer it this way though, don't you?'

Before she had chance to reply he kissed her again. She pulled back.

'Oh yes I do!' She leaned in to kiss him again.

'HARRY!' Hermione screeched from downstairs.

'Talk about aversion therapy!' Harry mumbled. 'WHAT?' he shouted over his shoulder.

'Where are my DUELLING notes?' Hermione screeched up the stairs.

'Uh oh!'

'Uh oh?' Ginny asked.

'I can't remember where I left them! I borrowed them to revise from and now I have no idea where they are!'

'Of all the things of Hermione's to lose, you lose her revision notes? Well done Harry.'

'All right don't rub it in!'

'HARRY!' Hermione screeched again.

'_And_ you do it four days before hers and your first exam, this gets better!'

'You know you could at least try and be of some help instead of pointing out the obvious. I might be able to find the stupid notes if all your stuff wasn't everywhere!'

Ginny glared at Harry, 'Don't even try and blame that on me Potter! I've only been here two hours and I just know you haven't seen them since New Years Eve.'

'All right, all right, it's not your fault, but please could you help me look for them?'

'Where do you last remember seeing them?'

Harry stopped pulling the quilt off his bed and screwed up his eyes in concentration. 'Er…Oh! When we were revising together…at the Burrow!' His face was mixed with relief at remembering where he had last had Hermione's notes and worry as to whether they were still there, in a condition that Hermione would be happy with.

'You go and find them and I'll stall Hermione, you have three minutes, you know what she's like when she's panicking!'

Harry apparated to the Burrow and Ginny went to walk out of Harry's room but was met by a disgruntled Ron.

'Where's Harry? Hermione's going mad!'

'He's gone home to get Hermione's notes, that's where he remembers having them last.'

'Well I hope for his sake he can find them.'

'Can you stall Hermione for a few minutes while he's away?'

'Why should I?' Ron asked in a fed up tone.

Ginny looked at him confused, 'Because he's your friend for one, and I would have thought you'd want to try and calm Hermione down as much as possible. Or are you _so_ incapable of being a good boyfriend that you don't know how to do that?'

Ron instantly went red as anger boiled up inside him. Ginny knew exactly how to wind him up in a single sentence.

'Excuse me? I know exactly how to calm Hermione down _thank you very much_,' he replied with as much restraint as he could muster.

'Well go and do it then!' Ginny snapped.

Ron went to open his mouth but stopped himself before he said something he didn't really mean. Instead he sighed and turned around, walking the way he had just come, although his steps down the stairs were more stomps from his frustration.

He pushed his way through the lounge door, so much so that it bounced back off the wall and nearly hit him. Hermione looked up from her large pile of notes, which she was feverishly searching through.

'What's wrong?' she asked, as she noticed the look on Ron's face.

'Nothing,' he answered moodily.

'Ron, just tell me, I'm not in the mood to try and guess what's got you upset.'

'I told you it's nothing.'

'Fine. Where's Harry with my notes?'

'Oh,' Ron said, coming out of his mood slightly, and thinking quickly of a way to distract Hermione, 'he's just on the toilet, he'll be down soon.'

'He better bloody well had be,' Hermione muttered.

'I don't know why you're getting worked up Hermione, you've been revising for weeks, you'll do fine in these exams. And it's not as if they mean a great deal anyway, they're just to give you an idea of how you're getting on.'

'Ron, when have I ever taken _that_ attitude towards exams?'

'Well, never, but I'm just saying you should try and relax a bit.'

'_Relax_? Ron I'll relax when I get these exam results and find out I've done all right.'

'Is there anything I can say that will make you take a break?'

'I haven't revised since New Years Eve, a fact that I keep shuddering over every few minutes, so no, there's nothing you can say that will make me stop.'

'Fine. Do you want something to eat or drink, you haven't had a proper lunch.'

'I'm not hungry.'

'Hermione!'

Hermione looked up at Ron and knew he was right, she really should eat something.

'Okay, I'll eat something,' she moved to stand up.

'No don't, I'll do it.

Ron disappeared into the kitchen and made Hermione a sandwich in the muggle way. His annoyance with Ginny was slowly ebbing away, but the comments from her and his brothers, particularly Fred and George, about his merits as a boyfriend were really starting to grate. When he had finished his masterpiece, a sandwich that was stuffed full with multiple fillings, Ron looked upon his creation with pride. He poured a glass of fresh orange juice from the fridge and took the glass and the plate into Hermione.

He placed it in front of her and she ignored it, she was writing notes on a new piece of parchment, her brow furrowed in concentration. Ron sighed as he sat on the sofa and picked his wand off the coffee table in front of him.

He flicked his wand and Hermione's quill left her hand and landed neatly in Ron's.

She looked up at him and raised her eyebrows.

'Eat,' he said simply, pointing to her lunch with her quill.

'In a minute,' she replied, before taking a spare quill out of her back pocket and dipping it in her bottle of ink. She had written all of three words before Ron repeated his previous actions and the second quill landed in his hand.

'Now,' he said quietly but firmly.

Hermione sighed knowing she wasn't going to get any further in her note taking until she had eaten her lunch.

She got up from the floor and sat herself next to Ron on the sofa. She started eating her lunch. Ron looked at her, wondering whether or not to ask her the question in his mind.

'Hermione…'

'Yes?' she said through a mouthful of sandwich.

'I…nothing it doesn't matter.'

Hermione swallowed her mouthful, 'Ron, please tell me what's bothering you. I hate it when you don't tell me what's wrong.'

'Ginny would probably say that's another of my failings as a boyfriend!' he muttered.

'What? Ron what's going on?'

He sighed and rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand, 'It's nothing major, it's just…Fred and George keep saying snide comments about my lack of ability to be a good boyfriend. Ginny mentioned something earlier and it's starting to get to me. I know I shouldn't let it 'cause they're only joking, but still, makes you think about things.'

Hermione put her plate down and turned so she was looking directly at Ron.

'This is really bothering you isn't it?' she asked, concerned.

'Like I said, I know I shouldn't let it, but…yeah it's starting to bother me…a bit. Plus I…I don't like the idea that I'm…that I'm letting you down.'

'Why do you think you're letting me down?'

'Well I didn't until my darling brothers started telling me I was, but that's what gets to me,' he stood up and started pacing backwards and forwards. 'I have never known more about someone in my entire life, not even my family. For one thing I love you, which is something a few years ago I would never have been able to say to anyone, I know your birthday and not only that I know the exact time you were born, I know what your favourite song is, I know what your favourite colour is, I know what your favourite flavour of ice cream is, both muggle and wizard. I know your greatest fear is failure and that your greatest ambition is to be the best you can at everything you put your mind to.'

He took a breath before continuing.

'I know your exact height, I know how much you weigh in the morning and I know how much you weigh at night, I even know how many freckles there are on your right arm, so I don't understand how they can even think that I can't be a good boyfriend to you.'

He stopped pacing and looked deflated. He put his hands in his pockets and moved some fluff that was on the floor around with his foot.

'Come here,' Hermione said quietly. Ron looked up at her and made his way over to the sofa. He sat down next to Hermione.

'Don't let Fred and George get to you. It's not for them to say whether or not you're being a good boyfriend, surely that's for me and me only to say, and I say you are so…that's that.'

Ron smiled.

'Thank you.'

'Just don't try and hide anything from me, I can't stand you being upset and suffering on your own.'

'I was hardly suffering, just annoyed.'

'I don't care. Promise me you'll tell me if there's ever anything bothering you.'

'I promise.'

'Good, now if Harry hasn't come down here with my notes by the time I've finished my lunch, I'll hex him!'

'He should be back from the Burrow soon enough.'

'The Burrow? Why is he at the Burrow?'

'Oh er…he er…'

'Ron, why is Harry at the Burrow?'

Ron sighed; he decided to risk telling Hermione where Harry had left her notes.

'He thinks he left your notes there and went to find them.'

'He _thinks_ they're there?'

'Hermione calm down, they're only notes on duelling which you can do pretty damn well as it is. And chances are Harry'll find them. Sit down and finish your lunch.'

Hermione had gone to stand but stopped when Ron asked, well, _told_ her to. However, when a loud crack echoed down from the upstairs landing she jumped up and ran up the stairs. Ron just about managed to catch her plate before it fell off the sofa and landed on the floor.

She ran up the stairs and collided with Harry as he was coming out of his room.

'Oh there you are Hermione, here are your notes.'

Harry held out the notes to Hermione. Hermione looked at him and then at her notes. She flicked through them checking they were all there.

'Thank you Harry, where were they?'

'Oh er…just in my room, buried in and amongst mine.'

'Right, well thank you.'

She smiled sweetly at him and walked down the stairs. Behind her Harry breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

'There's no need to sigh in relief Saviour Boy, you know Molly wouldn't have thrown these notes out, she knows my handwriting well enough by now.' Hermione said. She turned to look at Harry's face and was pleased to see him looking shocked. She glared at him with a don't-you-ever-lose-my-notes-again look. Harry let his head drop and nodded ever so slightly.

'Sorry,' he mumbled. 'Will you still let me revise with you?' He looked at her with pleading eyes.

She laughed, 'Well I can hardly say no to a face like that, can I?'

'Nah, especially when it's the face of Saviour Boy!'

* * *

**Oh, and you know how much I like reviews:D**


	5. Chapter 5 Revising with a Friend

**And so arrives back into the story someone who made an appearance in 'Losing Sight of a Falling Star,' some of you liked him, others really didn't! lol If you haven't read Falling Star then having a brief look at Chapter 22 might be benificial, or you could just read the whole thing and leave me a review, and then you can do the same for this chapter :D**

**Cheers**

**Sarah ;)**

* * *

Chapter 5 – Finding Self Belief

'Arrgghh!'

The loud release of frustration made Hermione stop and retrace her last few steps through the corridor at the Ministry of Magic. Her first exam had just finished and she was about to apparate home, ready to have a couple of hours revision before the exam she had that afternoon.

She peered around the door and saw Cai launch a piece of paper to the other end of the room.

'Er…Cai?'

Cai stopped and turned around and stared at her.

'Oh…hi Hermione, Er…how did you find that exam? I thought it was ok, could have been a lot harder couldn't it. I mean-'

'Cai, you can waffle on for as long as you want but I'm not going to ignore what I just saw!'

Cai hung his head.

'So are you going to tell me what's bothering you or am I going to have to hex it out of you?'

'Really, it's nothing.'

Hermione sighed. _Men_, she thought irritably.

'Cai, neither of us have time for this, we both have some more revision to do before this afternoon-'

'Yeah, like _you_ need to revise!'

Hermione glared at Cai.

'Right well, if you're going to be rude I'll leave you to stress out on your own.'

She walked out of the room and set off down the corridor.

'Hermione!'

She stopped and turned round. Cai was stood at the door.

'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude, I'm just worried about these exams. I seem to have forgotten everything I learned at school and in the past few months, I just get jealous of you and your genius abilities.

'I'm hardly a genius Cai, and I accept your apology. Just out of interest, what got launched across the room?'

'Er…my ingredients list for Veritaserum. I thought I'd written them out correctly when I was testing myself, but when I checked with my notes it wasn't, but I still wasn't convinced I was wrong and that's when I realised I had two different versions and I have no idea which is the right one.'

'Oh, well I could give you a hand if you want.'

'No, no, I don't want to stop you revising.'

'Merlin above! What is it with men and asking for help? Ron's exactly the same! Why is it so hard to say 'yes, I admit, I need some help'?'

Cai held his hands up in surrender.

'Okay, okay I admit, I need help.'

'Finally! Right get your things and come back to mine with me. I'll help you with your notes and we can get some revision in before this afternoon's exam.'

'Well…only if you're sure…I don't want to cause you any trouble.'

'Cai, don't argue.'

'But…I dunno…I dunno if I should.'

'Why not?' Hermione asked, although she thought she had a good idea as to why Cai was reluctant to go to her house.

'I just…I'm not sure if…if I should what with…everything.'

'Cai, I thought we'd put all…_that_ behind us. It was months ago!'

Cai sighed, 'We have, I just…has Ron? I presume you told him.'

'Yeah I did, and he's okay, he won't start hexing you as soon as he sees you. He'll have me to deal with if he does!'

Cai smiled, but only a half smile.

'I just don't want to cause you trouble or anything. We're friends Hermione, I don't want anything to ruin that, I realised that…_then_.'

'Nothing will Cai, and if it makes you feel any better Ron's out visiting the twins this afternoon so he shouldn't be there.'

She cringed inwardly at how that sounded. She felt like she was going behind Ron's back. I'm not though, she thought. He's my friend and he needs help with his revision, _that's all_.

'Only if you're sure.'

'I'm sure, now come on, if for nothing else than I'm hungry and am looking forward to my lunch which is sat waiting for me at home!'

…oooOOOooo…

Half an hour later and Hermione and Cai had eaten lunch and were well into their short revision session.

'Right, I think I've finally got it,' Cai said as he looked at the list of ingredients for Veritaserum he had just written out.

'Let me check it,' Hermione said reaching her hand out towards Cai.

He handed Hermione the piece of parchment and she read through the list.

'Yes you have,' she replied, smiling.

'_Finally_!' Cai exclaimed as he collapsed back onto the sofa. 'What time are we on?'

'It's one o'clock. We've got about ten minutes. Call me strange but I always have to be at an exam fifteen minutes early. I'm a nervous wreck if I'm not!'

Cai laughed, 'Don't worry, I understand, and to be fair I wouldn't expect anything less from you.'

'I'm not exactly sure how to take that,' Hermione said with a smile.

'No, I wouldn't know how to either!'

'Well I think we'd better leave that conversation well alone then hadn't we.'

'Yeah, I think for my sake we'd better!'

A crack from the kitchen made them both jump slightly.

Hermione stood up, 'Ron, is that you?'

'Yeah it's me,' he replied.

Hermione walked into the kitchen. Ron walked up to her and gave her a hug and a kiss hello.

'What was that for?' she asked when he released her.

'What? I can't give my girlfriend a kiss hello anymore?'

Hermione smiled, 'Of course you can.'

'Shouldn't you be in an exam?' Ron asked.

'No, not 'til half past, but we'll be setting off in a few minutes.'

'Oh, is Harry here too?'

'No he's not, he was meeting Ginny for lunch.'

'So who's 'we'?' Ron asked, a confused look on his face.

'Cairo.'

Hermione saw Ron register the name and his eyebrows rise. Before he had chance to say anything Hermione started to explain.

'He needed some help with his revision so I offered to help him over lunch.'

She surveyed Ron and was relieved to see that he wasn't getting angry, then again, the last time she had expected him to get angry, he hadn't.

'Oh, ok.'

He opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself.

'What?' Hermione asked, thinking Ron was about to protest or get angry.

'Nothing, it's nothing. Shouldn't you be going? It's quarter past; you know what you get like if you're not there fifteen minutes beforehand.'

'Yeah, I suppose I should,' she replied, checking her watch.

She walked back into the lounge and Cai was stood ready to leave, he had put Hermione's notes and books in a neat pile with her quills on top.

Hermione smiled when she saw the gesture, Ron followed her into the lounge.

'Hello Cairo,' Ron said stiffly, but he tried to look friendly with a smile.

'Hi Ron,' Cai replied, just as awkwardly.

'Ready to go?' Hermione asked him.

'Yeah.'

'Right well, good luck Cai,' Ron said kindly.

'Thanks Ron.'

'You too,' he said to Hermione.

She smiled at him.

'I'll see you later,' she said to him.

Cai apparated out of the house to the Ministry, and Hermione went to turn on the spot but Ron reached forward and grabbed her arm.

Before she had chance to ask him what he was doing he kissed her.

It was one of those kisses which made you temporarily forget everything that was going on around you. Her arms dropped to her side but then they found the back of Ron's neck. After a minute Ron pulled back.

'Now you really do need to go, 'cause it's only thirteen minutes to go until your exam.'

Hermione looked into his eyes, 'Something just stopped me from caring though!' she said quietly.

Ron raised his eyebrows at her and smiled disbelievingly.

'Don't worry I'll be back to normal in a minute or so. I love you, you know, you know just how to calm me down!'

'I love you too, but I don't think it'll last long though!'

'No, I don't think it will, in fact I think I'm about to start panicking again.'

'You'll be fine Hermione, just believe in yourself.'

'I will. I'll see you later.'

'Yeah, you'll be back before five won't you?'

'Yeah I will, why?'

'I said I'd meet Seamus in Diagon Alley for a drink.'

'Oh, ok. I'll see you before you go then.'

'You will. Now go.'

'I'm going, I'm going!'

She smiled at him then turned on the spot.

She reappeared next to Cai in the Atrium.

'I thought I was going to have to go in without you!' he said, a relieved look on his face.

'Like _that_ was going to happen. Ron just had to tell me what he was doing this evening.'

They made their way to the exam room and waited patiently outside the door. At twenty-five past one they were let in the room and found their seats. Like all exams at the Ministry, and in their O.W.L year at Hogwarts, they were sat alphabetically. Hermione automatically walked two rows to the right and four seats back, having had to find her seat four times previously that week. She found the table that had a piece of parchment with 'Granger, Hermione' on it and saw on the table behind her, the parchment with 'Gregson, Cairo' written on it.

As she sat down she took a couple of deep breaths trying to calm herself down. She closed her eyes and saw Ron stood in front of her saying the words 'just believe in yourself' and suddenly she felt calm.


	6. Chapter 6 Provocation but no explanation

**Hello there! Sorry it's been a while peeps, but it took me a little while to figure this one out in my head, as it sets things up for the next few chapters, and a bit later...anyway, I hope you like it now it's here. I was starting to get update withdrawal! Next few might be a while because I start my work placement tomorrow which will hopefully lead to a job,so my writing time will be reduced quite a lot. ****I'm working on another fic which I'll start posting after a few more chapters of this, look out for it! ;)**

**Cheers, Step ;)**

* * *

Chapter 6 – Provocation but no explanation 

It was 1:57am and Hermione Granger was asleep in her bed. She wasn't sleeping very soundly however, but that was nothing abnormal when she had exams on, and tomorrow was her final and hardest exam. Like she had before every set of exams she'd ever taken, Hermione had already dreamt that she'd failed them.

For some reason the dream was visiting her again, her brow was furrowed as in her mind's eye she looked over her results and tried to comprehend why she had failed.

_As she read the precious piece of parchment she saw someone walk towards her from the right._

'_Hermione, we have to escort you from the Ministry, you have to leave the Auror programme. Now.'_

'_NO,' she screamed._

_She threw her wand arm out, intent on not going quietly._

It was as she did this in her mind, that her dreams and her real life collided. Her eyes snapped open as her hand collided with the wall beside her bed.

'AAAH!' she screamed as the skin across her knuckles split from the sudden and solid impact.

'Oh Merlin Hermione! It was only a sodding _dream_!' she shouted loudly to herself. She covered her bleeding hand with her left, praying it would help the pain, but it didn't.

She mentally cursed herself. As she sat up to switch her bedside light on, a quiet knocking on the door caught her attention.

'Hermione, are you all right?'

_Déjà vu_! She thought.

She picked up her wand with her wrong hand and flicked it at the door. It unlocked and opened and she saw Harry's silhouette in the doorway.

'What did you do?' Harry asked Hermione, successfully stifling a yawn.

'I punched the wall,' she replied quietly, slightly embarrassed.

'Er…why?' Harry asked.

'Well I didn't do it intentionally! I was dreaming and in the dream I threw my arm out and I just so happened to do it in my physical form as well!'

'Well that was stupid wasn't it?'

She glared at Harry as best she could in her sleepy state.

'Thank you for that assessment Harry.'

She looked at her hand and brought her knuckle up to her mouth. She sucked the part of the skin that was bleeding the most and winced at the pain. Harry walked over to her and sat down on the bed.

'Let me see your hand,' he said kindly.

He took her hand away from her mouth and looked at the slightly misshapen bones of her knuckles.

'I think you might have broken a bone. How hard did you hit the wall? It's quite impressive to break a bone from doing it!'

'Well, you've seen how fast I can draw my wand.'

Harry closed his eyes and smiled. 'Ah, now I understand! Give me your wand and I'll fix this for you.'

Hermione held out her wand for Harry to take, but when he took hold of it and tried to pull it towards him, Hermione kept a tight hold.

'What?' he asked.

'Just…just be careful…please. You know I have to be able to write for three hours tomorrow, I haven't done all the revision I have to end up not being able to take the exam!'

'Are you saying you don't trust me to fix a simple break?' Harry asked, his eyebrows raised.

'Well no, I mean, yes of course I trust you, but I don't have to remind you of what can go wrong when trying to mend broken bones!'

Harry's eyebrows disappeared into his fringe he'd raised them so high.

'Are you comparing me with Lockhart?' he asked, exasperated at Hermione's insinuation.

'No no, of course I'm not!' Hermione argued, trying to think of a way to climb out of the hole she had dug and spectacularly fallen in to.

'I'll have you know, Hermione, I've fixed many a broken bone, most of them belonged to your darling Ron after he'd punched the wall in frustration over various topics ranging from his lack of ability to tell you how he felt and-, actually, where is your darling Ronald? Shouldn't he be back by now?'

'I presume he's still out with Seamus, he said he might be late back.'

'Oh, okay. Now, do you want me to fix your hand, or do you want to sit there in pain?'

Hermione looked at Harry. 'I don't want to sit here in pain,' she said with a smile.

'Right, now hold still.'

Harry pointed Hermione's wand at her hand. She felt it go hot and then cold, and then saw the skin knit itself together. With another wave of the wand it closed completely and only a red mark was left on her knuckles.

'That better?' Harry asked.

Hermione carefully stretched out her fingers and then made a fist.

'Yeah it is. Thanks Harry.'

'That's okay, I'll invoice you in the morning!'

Hermione laughed, but then fell silent.

'Do you think Ron's all right Harry?'

'Why wouldn't he be?' Harry asked.

'No reason, it's just, he's been out since five this evening, that's eight hours!'

'Well, he can look after himself Hermione, not that I think he'll have needed to tonight, but you know he can.'

'Yeah I know, but-' she was interrupted by a crack downstairs.

'Speak of the devil!' Harry said.

Hermione stood and walked out of her room and downstairs to the lounge, Harry following her.

'Ron?' she called as she walked through the kitchen to the lounge.

She got no reply, so she carried on walking to the largest room in the house.

'Arthur!' she exclaimed as she surveyed the scene before her.

Ron was slumped on the sofa; his head back against the cushions, his nose and the side of his face covered with dry blood, which had also travelled down to his collar.

'RON!' she exclaimed as she ran over to him. 'Arthur what happened to him?'

''Mione?' Ron mumbled, eyes barely open.

She sat next to Ron and stroked his forehead.

'Merlin above Ron!' Harry said as he walked in the room and caught sight of Ron's face. 'What did you do to yourself?'

'I'm afraid Ron didn't do this,' Arthur said quietly. 'He got caught up in a fight in Hogsmeade.'

'Hogsmeade?' Hermione asked. 'He said he was going to Diagon Alley for a drink, not Hogsmeade!'

'Well, that's where he ended up.'

'How did he get caught up in a fight?' Harry asked.

'He…er…he started it,' Arthur said quietly.

'He WHAT?' Hermione screeched, whipping her head round to look at Arthur.

'Please tell me he was provoked and he didn't just start throwing punches!' Harry asked Arthur.

'Well according to the Ministry-'

'The Ministry?' Harry and Hermione shouted at the same time.

'What's going- Dad? Why are you here?'

Ginny had been woken by the talking and occasional shouts from the lounge and had come downstairs to see what was going on.

'Ron got into trouble.'

'How and why were the Ministry involved?' Hermione asked.

'Well there were a couple of off duty Aurors in the bar and they had to break it up. When none of them looked like calming down, they had no choice but to take them into custody.'

'Were wands drawn?' Harry asked.

'Actually no, they weren't. This was quite a good example of muggle duelling.'

'Is he going to be charged with anything?' Hermione asked.

'You know…I am…I…I am h…here, you know!' Ron managed to stammer out.

Hermione noticed his gums and teeth were also stained with blood, but she ignored him and looked back at Arthur.

'No he isn't. Apparently the Auror saw the whole thing and said that Ron was provoked into hitting him, and apparently Ron actually came off worse so they both got released without charge.'

Hermione sighed, 'Thank Merlin for that. Who was he fighting with?'

'Apparently it was someone you were at school with, Marcus Flint.'

'No wonder he came off worse!' Ginny said. She moved so she was next to Ron on the sofa and started to clean his face up with his wand. As she moved closer to look at his nose she smelt the alcohol on his breath.

'Merlin Ron, how much have you had to drink?'

'Not…much,' he mumbled.

'Yeah right!' Ginny replied.

'If you three are all right looking after him, I'll head back home. No doubt Molly is hysterical.'

'That's fine,' Hermione replied, standing as she did so. 'I'm sorry you had to…'

'Don't apologise Hermione, it's not your fault. I'll see you all soon.'

Arthur apparated out of the house and left the four of them in silence. Ginny got back to cleaning Ron's face and seeing if his broken nose was easily fixed.

'Gin…would you mind if I…'

She nodded towards Ron.

'No, of course not.' She stood and put her hand on Hermione's shoulder. 'Don't be too long, you need your sleep.'

Hermione smiled. 'I won't.'

Harry stood in front of her. 'Promise?' he asked.

'I promise, as I said, I haven't done all that revision for nothing. I'll be up soon.'

'I'll make sure you are.'

Harry and Ginny left the lounge and went upstairs. When they had left the room Hermione turned to Ron and sighed.

'Are you even awake?' she asked him.

Ron slowly opened his eyes and struggled to focus on Hermione. He struggled further when he decided to try and lift his head off the cushions.

'Yeah…I'm…I'm awake.'

'Good, you can answer some questions then. Why did you punch Flint?'

Ron refused to meet Hermione's gaze.

'He er…said some things…' he replied with a slight slur.

'About what?'

'They were…they were nasty things…about people I care for.'

'So he said things that he knew would wind you up and you took the bait. Merlin Ron! You must have realised he wanted to get a reaction out of you and get you into trouble.'

'I know he did.'

'Well if you knew that then _why did you hit him_?' she shouted, barely controlling her anger.

'You don't know what he said about you!' Ron blurted out loudly, causing Hermione to jump at his voice.

'Well _tell me_! Then I might start to understand.'

'No.'

'_No_?' she asked, disbelievingly. 'Why won't you tell me?'

'I just…can't.'

Hermione went to argue, but she didn't have the energy, this didn't stop her being annoyed though.

'Fine. I'm going to bed.'

'Wait, Hermione,' Ron pleaded.

'Why should I?' she spat.

'I'm sorry.'

'For what? For fighting in public? For letting that scum Flint get to you? For not having the decency to tell me why you got into this mess? Which is it Ron?'

Ron flinched as she shouted the last question at him.

'For everything,' he mumbled, barely loud enough for Hermione to hear.

She didn't say anything, not trusting herself to say what came into her head calmly. She walked over to him and waved her wand at his nose. Ron had a shocked look on his face, thinking that she might be about to curse him, but he relaxed when he realised she had just fixed his broken nose.

'Thanks.'

'I'm going to bed, I have an exam in the morning.'

Ron swore quietly under his breath. Hermione rolled her eyes.

She started walking out the door. When Ron didn't follow her she carried on and tried to ignore the anger bubbling inside her.

She got into her bed and shut her eyes. After ten frustrating minutes in which Ron didn't come and join her in bed, she had to resort to her calming technique. Something she hadn't used for months.

Ron sat downstairs for another half an hour, thinking about what had happened that night and about what Flint had said to him about Hermione. Every time he heard the words in his mind he got angry. How dare he say that about Hermione! How dare he say that about _him_! He knew that he shouldn't dwell on what that bastard had said, but there was something in it that made it stick at the back of his mind.

Eventually after another ten minutes thinking and contemplating he walked up the stairs. Seeing Hermione's door shut he decided to sleep in the spare room. He hadn't meant to disturb her sleep, especially before her most important exam, so he thought it best if he didn't do it again. Hopefully Hermione was already asleep and wasn't going to hear him go into the other room, he wasn't sure how she would react if she did.


	7. Chapter 7 Avoiding the Truth

**Ok, I lied. When I posted 'Together Forever?' I said I'd finished this chapter, well I hadn't, but I have now! I enjoyed writing this one, especially the Ginny/Ron interaction.**

**Let me know what you think. :D Oh, and thanks for the reviews so far. Much appreciated :D :D :D**

**Cheers, Step ;)**

* * *

Chapter 7 – Avoiding the Truth

Hermione opened her eyes as the harsh beeping brought her from her dreams, and rolled onto her right side, expecting to see Ron led next to her. Her brow furrowed when she saw he wasn't next to her, but then she remembered what had happened early that morning and she closed her eyes as the memories washed over her. She sat up and turned to look at her alarm clock, it read eight o'clock. On a normal work day she would give herself an extra fifteen minutes in bed, but this morning, like the four before it, she gave herself an extra fifteen minutes to prepare herself for the morning's exam.

Unlike the past four mornings, however, her mind was far from her looming exam, it was on the person who should be occupying the space to her right.

Normally when she was sleeping in the double bed on her own, she would lie in the middle and spread herself out. She had done this last night when she had gone to bed, expecting Ron to wake her up and tell her to budge over onto her side – hence the reason why she was nearer to the wall to be able to punch it – but when she had gone to bed after Ron had arrived home she hadn't sprawled across the middle, her unconscious mind had stopped her being near Ron, well, where he was supposed to be.

She got out of bed and fulfilled her normal daily routine. As she was leaving the bathroom Harry was emerging from his bedroom, rubbing his eyes in a feeble attempt to wake himself up.

'Morning,' she uttered in his direction before disappearing back into her bedroom.

As she put her clothes on she wondered where Ron had slept, had he fallen asleep where he had been sat when she left him? Or had he actually bothered to move upstairs to the spare room? She tried to pretend she didn't care, but curiosity got the better of her and she peered around her bedroom door, and looked at the spare bedroom door across the landing. She saw it was shut and that told her he had at least managed to walk up the stairs.

As she was reading the Prophet and eating her cereal, Harry joined her in the kitchen.

'Morning,' he said, more cheerfully than Hermione had managed earlier.

Hermione swallowed her mouthful of breakfast and muttered 'hi' in response. Harry poured some milk onto his cereal and sat himself next to Hermione at the dining table.

'Anything interesting?' he asked, nodding at the paper.

'Not really. They've opened a new wing in St. Mungo's, that's as exciting as it gets.'

'Oh, okay.'

Harry eyed Hermione as he ate his cereal, wondering whether or not to breech the subject of Ron and what had happened last night. He decided to take the chance.

'How's Ron?' he asked innocently.

'I have no idea,' Hermione replied coolly.

'Have you not seen him this morning?'

'No.'

'Why not? Didn't he come to bed last night? Is he still in the lounge?'

Harry sat higher in his seat, seeing if he could see spot sign of Ron in the lounge from where he was.

'No, I think he made it to the spare room.'

'Why? You didn't tell him he couldn't sleep in the same bed as you, did you?'

'Would it bother you if I had?' Hermione asked, looking at Harry as she ate another mouthful of cereal.

'Well, I suppose you had good reason to be angry with him, but it's not like you to ignore a problem.'

'I know it's not, that's why I said nothing of the sort to him, he made his own decision to sleep in the spare room. I didn't know anything about it until I woke up this morning and found his side of the bed empty.'

'Oh, right. So you haven't gone in to see him this morning then?'

'No, Harry, I haven't.'

'Why not?' Harry asked. He thought he was pushing his luck slightly with the amount of questions he was asking, but Hermione wasn't exactly giving a lot up in her short answers, so technically they were necessary.

Hermione sighed, obviously irritated. 'Because he probably has a hangover and as much as it'll serve him right he'll probably still be in a bit of pain from his injuries, so the more he sleeps the better. And also – you can call me a heartless bitch if you want, Harry – but this morning I have something other to worry about as well as Ron!' she snapped. Realising she had lost her composure she took a deep breath and continued. 'I promise at quarter past twelve I will come straight home and try and sort this whole mess out, but until then I have an exam to contemplate!'

Harry was slightly stunned after Hermione's little rant and in the following silence gave himself a bit of thinking time by shoving a spoonful of cereal into his mouth. After prolonged chewing he swallowed it.

'I would never call you a heartless bitch Hermione, and I would never think it of you either, you know that,' he said quietly.

Hermione glanced at him. 'I know.'

'And I understand that you have to prioritise; it's what I'm doing. I'm not going to talk to him until this exam's over and finished with. How about we come home together and see if we can find out exactly what happened.'

'I already asked him what Flint had said to provoke him.'

'What did he say?'

'Ron or Flint?'

'Either! Both!'

'Ron said no, he wouldn't tell me. When I asked him why, he just said he couldn't. Which is why I'm unbelievably annoyed at him. I've had my fair share of insults thrown at me during school and since we left, but Ron seems to think that I can't handle a few nasty words.'

'Maybe he just didn't want to repeat them.'

'Oh come on Harry, he got into trouble _with the Ministry_ because of it; I think I deserve to know _exactly_ why my boyfriend was arrested last night.'

'You know he'll have been protecting you, like he always does, like has done from the very first time Malfoy called you…you know what.'

Hermione sighed. 'I know he will have been but he needs to learn to control his temper. You can't start beating people up because they say a few nasty things. Even if the person in question happens to be a foul piece of work.'

Harry sighed, knowing he wasn't going to win this argument. Like Ron, he knew when he couldn't win against Hermione's logic. 'I know.'

'So,' Hermione said, wanting to change the subject, 'are you going to be okay with this exam?'

Harry looked at her and wondered whether he should change the subject back to Ron, as the issue was far from resolved. He decided against it and answered Hermione's question.

'I think so, I told you what Claire said didn't I?'

'About there being questions we haven't been tutored on yet? Yeah you told me, there probably just there to panic us.'

'It'll probably work though,' Harry mumbled into his bowl. He drank the last of the milk and put his bowl in the sink along with Hermione's. 'Are we setting off at nine as always?'

'Of course.'

Harry smiled. 'You and your fifteen minutes!'

'I can't help it, you must be used to it by now!'

'I am, don't worry. I'll go and get changed and we can do some last minute cramming. Well, I can, you can just sit smugly next to me and wear that you-should-have-done-this-before-now look you have perfected over the years.'

'Sounds good!' she replied with half a smile, the first she had worn that morning.

* * *

Ron woke up at quarter past nine – not that he knew what the time was as the spare room didn't house a clock – and groaned loudly. His head was throbbing, a result of the amount he had drunk last night and the numerous punches his face and head had taken. He rolled over onto the colder side of his pillow.

Five minute later he was awoken by loud knocking on the door. He grimaced as the noise hurt his head.

'What?' he snapped.

The door burst open and Ginny marched into the room looking annoyed.

'So you're awake then?' she demanded.

Ron wasn't sure if it was a statement or a question.

'Well, I wasn't until you started pounding on the door. What do you want?'

'I want to talk to you,' Ginny said simply.

'Can't it wait until later, I have a massive headache, and shouldn't you be at work or something?' he rolled away from Ginny. 'Somewhere that's not here!' he mumbled.

'It's your own stupid fault you have a headache, and no, I shouldn't be at work, it's my study day so I'll be here _all_ day. Not wanting to waste any of that time, I want to get this over and done with. I knew you'd complain about your head which is why I got you this.'

Ron felt something small land on the bed next to him.

'What is it?' Ron asked, not moving.

'Pain relief so I can talk to you properly without you complaining every ten seconds. Now take it and meet me downstairs in five minutes.'

Ron's head gave another painful throb. He was torn between staying in bed with a headache but not having to talk to Ginny, or taking the pain relief and having to explain last night, something he really didn't want to do. He decided on the first option, he could at least try and sleep through his headache.

'Bugger off Ginny! It's none of your business what happened and you can't boss me around!'

'Fine! Be like that, but I warn you, if you're not downstairs in five minutes ready and able to talk to me you _will_ regret it!'

Despite the protests from his head, he chuckled.

'And what are you gonna do exactly?'

Ginny's brow furrowed as she thought about what she could do to Ron. When a thought flashed through her mind a smirk spread its way across her face.

'Let's just say I'll take a leaf out of Fred's book. You remember what happened when you broke his toy broom don't you? Well, think how big the spider will be when it's your bed that gets transfigured.'

Ron twitched involuntarily. He hoped Ginny hadn't seen his knee-jerk reaction to thinking about being near spiders, but she had, she smirked when she saw him move uncomfortably.

'Well, I'll see you in five minutes then!' she said brightly, as if she hadn't just threatened him with his worst nightmare.

She turned and left the room, a slight skip in her step as she left.

Ron sighed into his pillow. He thought about his options, he could stay here and see if Ginny would carry out her threat, which he knew she would, so he was literally lying on a time bomb. He could get up and ignore her questions. She had at least left him the pain relief, hadn't she? He managed to lift his head off his pillow and looked at the quilt for the bottle. _Damn you to hell Ginny!_ He thought as he realised she had taken the bottle downstairs. His head gave another painful throb and it was this that made him throw back the covers and trudge downstairs.

He walked into the kitchen and sat at the table, grabbed the bottle Ginny had placed in the middle of the table and necked the contents in one go.

Ginny turned towards the table and placed two mugs of coffee on it. She took the seat opposite Ron and sat down.

Ron looked at her briefly and took a sip of his coffee. He winced as he swallowed it.

'Merlin that's sweet!'

'I put extra sugar in it so you had a bit more energy after your excursions last night.'

'Oh,' Ron mumbled, looking into his mug.

'Well, now that you've brought up the subject of last night-'

'You brought it up!'

'-we can discuss what Flint said to you to make you fly off the handle and straight at him.'

'I don't want to talk about it,' Ron said, reverting back to mumbling.

'Yes, that's what I thought you'd say, that's why I've come up with a solution.'

'Oh you have, have you?'

'Yes, I have.'

Ginny paused and took a sip of her coffee. She stared at Ron over the rim as she did. Ron looked back at her and tried to stare her out, but like every other time he had had this silent war with Ginny, he looked away first. He tried to make himself feel better by being rude.

'Well are you going to tell me?'

Ginny swallowed her coffee and sighed.

'Yes. You obviously don't want to tell anyone what happened so why don't you let us see it?'

Ron frowned, not quite understanding Ginny's comment.

'Huh?'

'Such fantastic use of our English language, Ronald!' she said.

Before Ron had chance to respond she continued. 'Why don't you put your memories in the pensieve so we can all watch what happened?'

Ron stared at her, mouth open.

'Why would I show you something that I don't even want to _think about_, never mind _show anyone_?'

'Because until you let us know what happened, thing's won't be the same.'

'Don't be stupid, why wouldn't they be the same?' Ron asked.

'Okay, think about it like this. Say Hermione came back from work and something was really upsetting her-'

'Why?'

'Oh for Merlin's sake Ron, just do it!'

Ron scowled and stared at his coffee mug.

'She's come home from work and she's obviously upset, but she won't tell you why. You want to be able to help her but she won't let you. How would you feel?'

Ron refused to answer her. He knew exactly what his sister was getting at; it would hurt him if Hermione thought she couldn't tell him if something was bothering her. But this was totally different! It wouldn't do any good telling Hermione what Flint had said, it wouldn't change anything, nothing good would come of it! Why couldn't they accept that? Then again, he thought, this thing would be over a hell of a lot faster if they saw the memory.

'You're not going to let this go are you?' he asked, looking Ginny in the eye.

'No, I'm not, and you can be damn sure Hermione won't either.'

Ginny knew Ron's resolve was crumbling. She summoned the small glass bottle that had housed the pain-killing potion and cleaned it with another flick of her wand. She rolled it down the table to Ron, and it stopped next to his mug with a small clink.

'Go on,' she prompted.

Ron sighed. 'My wand's upstairs.'

Ginny rolled her wand across the table to Ron and it stopped when it met the bottle. Ron reached over and took the wand. He put the tip to his temple and concentrated on the memory he was trying to extract.

After a few seconds Ginny saw the string of white smoke-like substance leave Ron's temple and she watched as he lowered it carefully into the bottle. He corked it and stood it in the middle of the table.

'You'd better change the label,' Ginny said, 'I know I'm not a qualified Healer yet, but I don't think swallowing a memory will help clear a headache!'


	8. Chapter 8 Revealing Memories

**Finally! Very sorry for the long wait (by my standards anyway!) But this took some writing. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint, a lot of you said you wanted to know what happened soI hope you like the way I wrote it. I had to put the rating up just in case some of the things said areseen as'Harsh' as RainbowKissed put it! (Cheers for beta-ing the fight!)**

**Anyway, please let me know what you think, hope it was worth the wait :D**

**Step ;)**

* * *

Chapter 8

Hermione and Harry arrived home at ten past twelve. Hermione dropped her bag on the floor and kicked off her trainers. It was a sign of how distracted she was that she didn't straighten her shoes neatly, instead she walked straight into the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee.

The morning's exam had drained both her and Harry, and as they had suspected, some of the questions had been about subjects they hadn't even covered in lessons yet. Hermione had had a stab at all of them though, and she was pretty confident she had given a reasonably full answer to a couple of them, and had gained the odd mark in the others.

She had of course, not talked to Harry about the exam afterwards, having being banned from doing that in the first year by both Ron and Harry. She understood their argument, why waste energy talking about something they could do nothing about. But still, it was nice to get some reassurance that someone had written the same answers as you.

She glanced around the kitchen as she walked in and stopped when she saw a small bottle sat in the middle of the big wooden table. She frowned and walked up to it, inspecting it for a few seconds before picking it up. There was no label on it, but she recognised the consistency of the contents.

'It's a memory!' she said quietly to herself.

'What?' Harry asked as he joined her in the kitchen. He stopped beside her and looked puzzled at the bottle in Hermione's hand. 'Is that a memory?' he asked, confused.

'Yes it is,' Ron said from the doorway.

Hermione jumped and almost dropped the bottle.

'Merlin Ron! You scared me!'

'Why? You knew I'd be here.'

Hermione was annoyed at his abrupt tone but tried not to show it.

'Yes, I know I did but still I was concentrating on this! What is it?' she asked holding the bottle out towards Ron.

'I told you, it's a memory.'

'What of?' Hermione asked, getting slightly more irritated.

'What happened last night. I won't watch it again, but Ginny convinced me you needed to see it. I don't know why, nothing good will come of it, but I know you won't leave this alone until you find out what happened, so, there it is. I'm presuming Harry will let you borrow his pensieve. Otherwise this will have been a waste of time.'

'Why wouldn't I let her borrow it?' Harry asked, also becoming annoyed at Ron's tone. He couldn't quite read Ron and it was concerning. He was being very cold in what he was saying. He was speaking the facts – as he saw them – but wasn't letting on to how he really felt.

'Well, you might have needed it for something,' Ron replied with a shrug. Harry went to reply but Ron cut him off before he could. 'Anyway, as I said, I won't watch it so I'll leave you to it. I'll be back later.'

Before either Hermione or Harry could protest or ask him where he was going, he had apparated out of the kitchen.

Hermione stood and stared for a few seconds, astounded at what had just happened. Harry broke the silence that filled the kitchen.

'Er…well…I could go and get the pensieve if you want,' Harry said, not really knowing if it was the right thing to say.

'Please do,' Hermione said simply. 'And get Ginny too.'

'Okay…' Harry said uncertainly before leaving the kitchen.

A few minutes later Harry came into the kitchen with the pensieve and Ginny following behind him. Ginny smiled weakly at Hermione.

'Thanks for this Gin,' Hermione said. Ginny walked over to Hermione and gave her a quick hug.

Harry took the bottle off Hermione and poured the memory into the stone bowl where it swirled and opened a window into the white mist.

'Well, after you,' Harry said, gesturing at the pensieve.

'Before you do,' Ginny said, catching Hermione by the arm, 'I think you should go in on your own, Hermione. Ron _really_ doesn't want anyone to see that memory, so if you come out and tell us what happened then Ron can't be too angry, can he?'

'I suppose not. Well,' she said leaning over the pensieve, 'here goes.'

As soon as the tip of her nose broke the surface of the memory she felt herself being tipped head-over-heels. She had never quite got used to the feeling, and was relieved to feel her feet hit solid earth.

Still with her eyes closed she inhaled the familiar smell that surrounded her. Even if she hadn't known where Ron had been last night she would have instantly recognised the distinct smell of Rosmerta's mead mixed with Firewhisky and pipe smoke the Three Broomsticks had.

She looked around and instantly saw Ron and Seamus sat at the bar, huddled over their drinks and laughing. She thought Seamus look worse for wear but Ron seemed to be all right, although Ron was great at looking sober as long as he didn't have to stand up, that was the real test. She quickly glanced around the rest of the pub, everyone was happy and talking with their friends and the atmosphere was relaxed and cheerful.

As she watched Ron and Seamus take another swig from their drinks, she heard the door swing open behind her and immediately felt the atmosphere shift. She thought for a second a Dementor had walked through the door it changed for the worse so quick. It wasn't a Dementor, as Hermione well knew, it was Marcus Flint, Blaise Zabini and Gregory Goyle.

Whilst various members of all three families had been taken into the Ministry for questioning during and after the war, only a few had been sent to Azkaban. The three who just walked into the Hog's Head had never been implicated in any Death Eater activity; although many refused to believe that they were totally innocent. As Arthur had told Harry, Ron and Hermione after they had been released, a person can't be sent to Azkaban just because they thought all muggle-borns were scum.

From just looking at the smirk on Flint's face, Hermione could tell he was in the pub looking to cause trouble. She watched as Flint caught sight of the unmistakable Weasley red hair and felt a bit sick as his smirk widened and he looked Zabini, tilting his head in Ron's direction. Zabini's reaction was different to what she was expecting though, instead of joining Flint in a smirk she thought she saw him tense up and look uncomfortable for a second. Quickly enough not to raise suspicion from Flint, he raised his eyebrows in a non-committal way.

Before Hermione had chance to think this strange behaviour through Flint made his way over to the bar, not caring how many people he nudged or shoved as he did. Goyle followed him, as did Zabini, although Hermione sensed reluctance in his pace.

'Three Firewhiskys,' Flint barked at the barman.

The barman looked at them sternly. Hermione wasn't sure whether or not he'd serve them, but after a few tense seconds he uncorked the bottle of Whisky and poured out three equal measures. As Flint handed over the money for the drinks he turned and winked at his two companions before picking up his drink and turning towards Ron and Seamus.

'Well, if it isn't the blood-traitor and his Irish half-blood friend!'

Ron and Seamus stopped talking but hadn't moved or turned around. After a second Ron took a breath and carried on talking to Seamus like nothing had happened.

Flint scowled, but only for a second before a sly smile spread across his face.

'Come on Weasley,' Flint said. 'It's not nice to ignore an old friend now is it?'

Ron sighed and Seamus sat up straight in his barstool. Hermione watched as Ron turned on his stool, she moved closer to make sure she didn't miss a thing.

'Flint, the day I call you a friend will be the day hell freezes over, and the day the sky falls down signifying the end of time, and probably not even then. Now, if you don't mind leaving me and my half-blood friend to our drinks I would be very grateful!'

Flint looked at Seamus over Ron's shoulder; the slightly drunk Irishman was smiling sweetly at Flint, trying to annoy him.

'That's not very friendly, Weasley,' he paused and looked like he was choosing his next words very carefully. The concentration was astounding. He took a half step towards Ron and instantly Ron straightened up on his stool, making himself taller than Flint by a few inches.

'I don't know if you've noticed Weasley, but things have been changing these past few months, it's definitely getting colder, it might not be too long before hell does freeze over, you never know what might happen then.'

Ron smiled, 'Ah Marcus, Marcus. You never were that bright were you? It's cold because it's w_inter_! It happens every year around November time, after autumn and before another one of the four seasons, spring!'

Seamus laughed loudly and clapped Ron on the shoulder, and the barman smirked as he wiped a couple of freshly washed glasses.

Flint was annoyed. His face was twisting in anger. Hermione saw Goyle move closer to Flint, waiting to be told he could go for Ron. Flint took the remaining pace between him and Ron and grabbed a handful of Ron's robes. He pulled Ron off his stool and held him in front of him.

When Ron was where Flint wanted him to be he let go and leaned into him, apparently oblivious to Seamus' verbal protests, which were underway behind Ron.

As Hermione looked on, getting angrier by the second, she saw Goyle leering at Flint and Ron, a huge grin on his face, but she was yet again surprised by Zabini's behaviour. He had sat himself at the bar, staring into his drink, apparently utterly bored by the events happening around him.

Seamus brought her from her thought and back to the altercation.

'Get out of his face and piss off Flint, and take those two losers with you!'

This statement would have been quite threatening had Seamus not slurred the occasional word and pronounced his short demand 'pish off'.

Flint smiled but didn't take his eyes off Ron's. Ron stared back, determined that he would win this staring match.

'You know _exactly_ what I mean Weasley,' he said slowly. 'Times must be changing if your Mudblood girlfriend has been getting along sweetly with Malfoy. Oh yes, I managed to see Malfoy shortly before he left, more of a coincidence really, but he filled me in on the bargain he had made with her. That and a few 'extras' she had thrown in as a thank you!'

Ron swallowed but still stared at Flint.

'You have no idea what you're talking about, you're talking out your arse, Flint.'

'Am I really? Well I suppose you'd know of course. How is she, by the way? And I'm not asking if she's healthy Weasley. Is she good? Malfoy wouldn't tell me; then again, I don't think he'd be able to admit he'd done a Mudblood. Oh, but wait, you're Pureblood aren't you Weasley? You should be ashamed of yourself. I bet your family are even though the lot of them are blood traitors. She's not good for you, Weasley. Then again, no self-respecting Pureblood would ever screw a Mudblood so you've probably taken yourself down to her level!'

Hermione dared not breathe, not that anything she did would make a difference. She saw Ron swallow hard, apparently trying to swallow his anger. He was now balling his fists and he had turned a dangerous shade of red. As much as Hermione was beginning to understand why Ron was about to punch Flint, she wondered why Ron hadn't just laughed the comments off. He knew they weren't true. Didn't he?

'I swear to Merlin, Flint, if you say one more word about Hermione, I'll punch you so hard you might not wake up.'

'Oooh! Big talk from the Mudblood lover! Well, she must be good if you're threatening me with that type of violence, maybe I will add her to my list of conquests, and then she'll be able to chalk me up on hers. Her third – and best – Pureblood!

'You _fucking_ BASTARD!'

Maybe if Ron hadn't told Flint he was going to punch him his fist might have hit his intended target. As it was, Flint managed to react in time and lift his arm to his head. Ron's fist only managed to deflect off Flint's arm and scuff the top of his scull.

Hermione watched as Flint took advantage of Ron's reduced balance from alcohol intake, and punched him hard in the stomach. As Ron deflated and bent double in pain, Flint pushed his head down and broke Ron's nose with his knee.

As Hermione flinched and looked away Seamus and Goyle, who both seemed intent on helping their friend make the next blow, pounced upon the fighters, and the two Aurors Arthur had told Hermione about followed suit. Eventually, when he could ignore the fight no longer, Zabini stood gracefully off his barstool and managed to pull Goyle out of the way of the two Aurors.

The memory started to mist around Hermione and she felt herself being tipped out of the pensieve.

Harry and Ginny were sat at the table when she emerged.

'Well?' Harry asked. 'What did Flint say?'

Hermione sighed and suddenly realised why Ron didn't want to tell anyone those horrible things Flint had said. She started to feel sick. She knew, of course, that everything Flint had said about Malfoy was a ridiculous lie but it still made her feel uneasy and wrong. If she felt like that knowing the truth, how would Ron feel with doubt in his mind? She knew it was there, she had seen it in his eyes the second before he tried to punch Flint.

'Hermione, what did he say?' Ginny prompted.

Hermione looked at Ginny.

'I have to go,' she said turning and walking out of the kitchen door.

'Oh, no you don't!' Ginny said, as she quickly stood up and ran after Hermione. Harry stayed sat at the table. Ginny could deal with this.

Ginny caught hold of Hermione's arm and pulled her back, but before she had chance to say anything, Hermione caught her off guard with a question of her own.

'Where will he have gone to?' she asked, her eyes wide.

'Never mind that!' Ginny screeched. 'What the hell did Flint say?'

'I can't tell you; you'll have to go into the pensieve and see for yourself. Now, _please_ Ginny, where do you think he'll have gone?'

The fact that Hermione couldn't tell Ginny what had transpired told the younger witch all she needed to know.

'Er…well if he hasn't gone home he might be…'

'Ginny, where is he?' Hermione asked, calmly but sternly.

'Well, you know that shack thing he used to go and sit in occasionally, the one which he told you he loved as a kid?'

'The one that got burned down in the Death Eater attack on the Burrow?'

Ginny flinched at the memory, not wanting to remember her family's oh-so-narrow escape from the masked men.

'Yeah, that one. Well, a few weeks later, the next time you were back off your Horcrux hunt he went to find himself a new place where he could hide away.'

'Where is it?'

'You know that overgrown mass of trees, bushes and grass a bit further on from where the shack was?'

'It's in there?' Hermione asked quickly.

'It _is_ there! There's a hole right in the middle.'

Not questioning Ginny at all, Hermione grabbed her wand off the table in the hall and apparated to the Burrow.


	9. Chapter 9 Promises, Truth and Trust

**Apparently I unearthed my ability to write loads on a train first thing in a morning, that's how I wrote nearly all of Falling Star but that stopped when I finished uni, but in this last week on my placement, I found my muse on trains!**

**Let me know what you think :D**

**Step ;)**

* * *

Chapter 9

As she arrived in the front yard of the Burrow, Hermione was reminded that it was the middle of January by the icy wind that chilled her to the bone.

_Cloak, Hermione!_ She thought.

She wrapped her arms around herself in a feeble attempt to warm up and jogged to the kitchen door. She was surprised to find the door propped open by a large chunk of wood, but when she stepped in front of the gap she was hit by a wave of heat and cooking smells. She smiled as she pulled the door open a bit further; there was something so comforting about the Burrow that was indescribable, Hermione could only guess that is was because of the loving family that had lived here for years.

'Molly?' she called pushing the door wider so she could step through. 'Are you there?'

Hermione rolled her eyes at her own comment. No Hermione, she thought, I'm sure she left the house with the dinner still cooking and the door wide open!

Molly came clattering down the stairs carrying a heap of laundry. She gave a start when she saw Hermione stood behind the kitchen table.

'Oh! Oh, it's you Hermione.'

'I did call Molly, I didn't just walk in.'

'Why not dear? This is your house too you know.'

Hermione smiled. She was lost for words for a few seconds and temporarily forgot why she was at the Burrow.

'Thanks, Molly,' her brain started working again. 'Er…is Ron here?' she asked trying to sound casual.

As soon as she asked the question Molly started busying herself with the pile of washing.

'Isn't he with you dear?' she asked as she started to sort the clothes into people piles.

'No…no he's not.'

'Well…he's not in the house,'

'Oh…thanks…I'll-'

Hermione stopped, _not in the house_? She thought. Is this Molly's way of not telling me where Ron is – he probably would have asked her to – but this way she isn't lying to me either? 'Cause if she'd said he's not _here_, meaning the Burrow and all it's fields and grounds, then she would have been lying.

'He's in his hiding place isn't he? I mean-' she hadn't meant to make him sound like a five-year-old hiding in a cupboard somewhere, 'the place where he goes when he needs to think.'

Molly refused to meet Hermione's eye and continued to sort through the pile of washing. Hermione walked round the table and stood next to Molly.

'Molly, please, I need to talk to him.'

The pile of washing was spreading out as Molly rummaged through it trying to find the matching sock to the one she had in her left hand. When she finally caught sight of it she picked it up and folded them together.

'Molly?' Hermione prompted.

Molly sighed. 'I told him I wouldn't lie for him, but I did promise I wouldn't tell anyone where he was. I can't break a promise, Hermione, I can't.'

'And you know me well enough to know I wouldn't ask you to break a promise if I didn't need to talk to him, but I do, I _really_ do. And…actually, you won't be breaking a promise, it was Ginny who told me he'd be in his little 'sanctuary' and you only told the truth; that he isn't in the house, so everything's fine and I can go and talk to him.'

Molly smiled.

'Is he angry about last night?' she asked.

'Yes he is,' Hermione replied simply, not wanting to provoke anymore questioning from Molly. 'I'd better go and find him.'

She turned to walk out of the kitchen.

'Not dressed like that you're not! It's freezing outside, you'll catch your death! Take my cloak!'

Hermione accepted the offer gratefully but half wished she hadn't after Molly also insisted she took a huge flask of hot chocolate and a small basket full of freshly made scones with her to warm them up and keep up their energy.

When she finally got away she started walking the path that was to take her to Ron's 'sanctuary', once she had walked across fields for five minutes beforehand. Ron's footsteps had broken the frozen grass and she walked through it without looking up, only concentrating on the boot prints leading her to her destination.

She walked up to the collection of trees, bushes and some very bizarre plants Hermione had never seen before. She circled it quietly, not wanting to give Ron any warning that she was coming to talk to him. After circling the green mound three times without finding a gap she could walk or crawl through, she decided there was only one thing she could do.

'Ron? Are you in there?' she said to the nearest hedge.

She thought she heard shuffling but it could have been the wind on any of the flora in front of her.

She sighed and was surprised to feel her eyes burn.

'Ron, _please_ don't ignore me. I need to talk to you, we need to talk to each other.'

Her voice cracked at the end of her sentence and she coughed, trying to cover it up.

'I'm not ignoring you,' Ron said, although he sounded far off to Hermione.

'Can I come in?' she asked.

'Yeah.'

'Er…how?'

'You need to apparate in.'

'I need to _what_?' she asked disbelievingly.

Ron sighed, 'You need to apparate in. Don't worry there's a big clearing in the middle about three metres from where you are. It's easy enough.'

'Ron, I'm not sure about this. What if I apparate inside the bush or something!'

'Well, it's the only way in unless you want to crawl through three metres of hedge!'

'Okay fine! I'll do it.' She stepped a little nearer to the greenery. 'Just be ready to do some serious untangling!' she muttered to herself.

She took a deep breath and turned on the spot.

To her relief she appeared in the clearing and there was no untangling needed. She was confused as to why she couldn't see Ron.

'Hi,' he said quietly from directly behind her.

She stepped forward before turning round, not wanting to whip Ron with her hair. She looked at him and tried to figure out how he was feeling, but he was wearing the same non-descript facial expression he wore in the kitchen earlier, so she couldn't read him, the thought scared her slightly. She realised she was still holding the flask and small basket of scones; she looked at the floor and saw a piece of circular carpet.

'Wasn't that in the other shack?' she asked quietly, pointing to the navy blue carpet.

'Yeah it was, the edges got burnt so I cut it into a circle. It's clean if you to sit down or I can conjure you a chair if you want.'

'The floor's fine.'

Hermione sat herself down and stood the flask and basket next to her. Ron sat opposite her.

'Did mum give you those?'

'Who else?' Hermione replied with a half smile.

'How long did she last before she told you where I was?'

'Actually it was Ginny who knew where you'd be, I just went to the Burrow in case you hadn't braved the cold.'

'There's a reason why I came here you know; I needed time to think.'

Hermione was slightly put out by the comment.

'And there's a reason why _I_ came here; _we need to talk_! And what's there to think about?'

Ron shrugged. 'Just stuff.'

Hermione sighed.

'So you looked at it then?' Ron asked.

Hermione looked directly into Ron's eyes.

'Yes. Yes I did.'

'And?' he asked.

Hermione's brow furrowed. 'And what?' she asked, slightly confused.

Ron shrugged. 'I dunno, you're the one who wanted to talk about it, so talk.'

Hermione felt tears burn her eyes again.

'Ron, why are you being like this?' she asked quietly whilst she stared at the floor.

'Like what?' he asked in the same tone.

'Distant! Abrupt! Rude! How many more do you want?'

She had raised her voice and the result was it broke. As she lowered her gaze back to the floor a tear escaped her eye and ran down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away but not before Ron noticed.

The one tear wasn't the end of it though, now that she had started crying she wasn't able to stop. She hung her head and the tears fell thick and fast onto her lap.

She wasn't exactly sure why she was crying. She had coped with Ron's moods for years now and it didn't normally make her cry. She tried to blame it on exam stress and the fact that she was tired, but she was trying very hard to ignore the fact that she knew she had seen a flicker of fear and doubt in Ron's eyes when Flint was taunting him.

She heard Ron shuffle and was hoping and waiting for some physical contact of some kind off him, it didn't need to be a hug – no, that was a lie, that was _exactly_ what she needed – but a hand on her shoulder would have been a start.

When she felt nothing in the next few seconds, and after her wave of tears had subsided she lifted her head and her eyes refocused. Ron had stood up and was facing the greenery he had been sat in front of.

'This is exactly why I didn't want you to see it,' he said quietly I knew it would upset you, why didn't you believe me? Everything would have been fine if everyone had just left it alone!'

'_Everything would have been fine, would it_?' Hermione asked, her upset quickly being replaced by anger. 'Ron, things were instantly different when you didn't come to bed last night.'

'I didn't want to disturb you!' Ron retorted loudly.

'Don't give me that rubbish!' Hermione shrieked as she stood up and faced Ron. 'You know damn well I sleep better with you next to me. I wouldn't have slept at all during the war if you hadn't been lying next to me. It didn't matter were we slept, whatever cave, hovel or shack we slept in I didn't care. I knew I'd be fine as long as you were there. As long as we were together I knew we'd be fine. So don't you dare stand there and tell me that you did it for my benefit!'

She hadn't meant to shout, but she couldn't help it.

'Fine!' Ron snapped. 'I didn't sleep in our room last night because I knew you'd ask questions about what happened and I didn't want to think about any of it!'

Hermione thought for a second. She realised she had two choices, she could either grab the bull by it's bright red hair and face the issue now or prance around for the next God knows how long wishing he'd breach the subject first, which she knew wasn't going to happen.

She raised her head and looked at Ron, he turned and looked at her.

'You believe him don't you,' she said in a whisper. Immediately she felt sick and her stomach started squirming.

Ron looked at her and looked shocked at the fact she had actually talked about the subject.

He didn't say anything but surprised himself when he looked into her eyes. His lack of response sent a shiver through Hermione.

'Oh God you believe him!' she managed to choke out. 'I can't believe you think I slept with _Malfoy_! Do you honestly think I would do that? _Please_ tell me you don't…I…I don't think I'd be able to cope if you do.'

She felt physically sick. She started to shake slightly and felt she had to sit down before she fell down. Slowly she sat herself down and hugged her knees to her chest. Ron still said nothing.

'You could at least have the decency to answer me,' she spat bitterly.

Ron sighed. 'Okay, I will. But please don't interrupt me; I really don't want to have to say this more than once. You might not like it but it has to be said.'

Hermione glared at Ron but didn't trust herself to say anything rational, plus there was the fact that she might be sick if she opened her mouth. She merely nodded in agreement.

'Right, here goes…when…when Flint first said those things, I laughed it off in my head, not to his face, I thought I could blindside him by not reacting in the way he thought I would. Anyway, I was just standing there taking it all in, knowing he was lying and just throwing anything he could think at me to get a reaction.'

But…Hermione thought.

'But,' Ron continued, 'then something came to me, something Harry said to me, well, it wasn't just Harry, well…it was, he was the one who said it…but I realised it a few days after I'd got out of hospital too. You…you didn't leave my bedside for a week until someone physically dragged you away, and then, even when you started work you went to see me twice a day.'

Hermione was confused; she had no idea why Ron was bringing these…well…_positive_ things up. She was sure there was a huge negative…_something_…about to knock every part of her to the floor, and she had a feeling she wasn't going to be able to get back up again.

'Basically I…I realised you…you would have done…_anything_ to help me. I don't want to sound up myself or anything, but I know it's true. That's why things got to me… I…I know I shouldn't have punched him but I knew if I didn't I might have drawn my wand and done some real harm.'

Ron fell silent, his tale told. Hermione sat and finally understood, well, understand might be a bit over-the-top but she now had a reason for Ron's behaviour.

'Ron…I…oh, sorry, were you finished?' she asked quietly.

'Yeah, I think so. Carry on.'

'Thanks. You're right, in one sense anyway. At one point I was desperate, I would have done almost anything to wake you up, I needed you back with me. But as much as I wanted and needed you back I couldn't have done that, not that it was ever an option, but even so, I just…couldn't have. Thinking about it now…actually…I can't, it makes me feel sick. Everything that Flint told you about Malfoy and me was a lie, _as you well know_. I told you _everything_ that happened in those few days, I wouldn't- I couldn't lie to you. And even if I could, do you honestly think Harry and Ginny would have been able to lie to you too? 'Cause you know they would have found out somehow. And just for the record, I don't blame you for hurting Flint, I know if the tables had been turned and someone had been saying hurtful lies about you then I would have done the same. I just didn't want you getting in trouble because you felt like you had to defend me.'

Ron looked at the floor and moved a fallen twig around with his boot.

'If you want me to go, then I will, I'll leave you to think if that's what you want. Just say the word,' Hermione said calmly.

'Don't go,' Ron said in a whisper.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.

'I don't want you to go.'

'Then I won't go anywhere,' she said.

'Hermione I…' he couldn't finish his sentence, to his surprise he felt his eyes burn and a couple of tears run down his cheek. He held out his hand towards Hermione but without turning towards her. Instantly she stepped forward and took his hand. She was slightly taken aback as Ron pulled her towards him with force. He wrapped his arms around her and cried into her shoulder.

'Hey! What's all this for?' Hermione said quietly as she stroked Ron's hair.

'I…I…can you forgive me for thinking what I thought? I just know h…how much you give up for people you c…care for and I th…thought you might have done that for me…'

He started sobbing again.

'Shh…hey, calm down. Ron…I, look, I understand why you would think that, but you must know I could _never_ do that, 'cause it would havedestroyed what we'd've had afterwards, and we wouldn't have been together. People might call that selfish, but I don't care. I needed you to be awake, but I needed you to be awake so I could be with you…Merlin that is selfish!'

Ron pulled back from Hermione and wiped his face with the back of his hand.

'Please don't ever stop being selfish if it means that. I didn't mean to…not trust you, I do, I should never have let what Flint said get to me, I can't believe how stupid I was. I'm sorry, I truly am. And I'm sorry I punched Flint too.'

Hermione smiled. 'There's no need to be sorry about that; I just hope for his sake that I don't see him any time soon. He won't know what hit him, the stupid bastard.'

Ron joined Hermione in a smile. He leaned forward cautiously and kissed her, he was pleased to feel her kiss him back.

When they broke apart Ron shivered.

'I think we'd better have some hot chocolate, you're mum'll kill me if you go back home cold. Can I just ask you one thing though?'

'Anything, I think I owe you that.'

'Well…how would us not talking about this helped? I know it was hard and it hurt, but you'd have gone mad without talking about it. Wouldn't you?'

' I suppose, I just didn't want to think about it. But I understand what you're saying; I'd still be feeling…unbelievably…_wrong_ if we hadn't done this. As much as it hurt, it's good we did.'

'So, you'll talk to me from now on?'

'I will.'

'Good.'

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the nose. As she did she heard Ron's stomach rumble.

'Do you want a scone and some hot chocolate?'

'Do you even have to ask?'


	10. Chapter 10 Organisation and Jealousy

**Wow, this took me far too long to write! I had it in my head a few days ago but it's taken me this long to get it written! Ah well, it's here now :D**

**Hopefully you'll like it, the little things that have been happening are all relevant to what happens further on in the story. All will become clear soon(ish!)**

**Cheers!**

**Step ;)**

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Chapter 10

_Tap, tap, tap, tap-tap, tap._

Hermione could hear the oh-so-annoying and continuous tapping sound that seemed to be coming from somewhere above her head, but refused to open her eyes to it.

'Ron?' she mumbled into her pillow.

'MmmHmm,' he replied into her shoulder.

'That you?'

Ron chuckled quietly and kissed the back of Hermione's neck.

'I love it when you're sleepy, you don't make any sense!

'Why _thank you_ Ronald!' Hermione replied, still mumbling into her pillow.

'It's not me!' Ron said, ignoring Hermione's comment. 'I'd say it was the owl outside that is about to start head butting the window out of frustration if we don't let him in.'

'Well you'd better let him in then! It'll probably be for you!'

Ron laughed at Hermione's cheek.

'We'll see!'

He leaned across her and took his wand off the bedside table. He flicked it towards the window and it opened on it's hinges and propped itself open on the metal arms. The owl hooted in protest against having to squeeze through a bottom opening, small, and muggle window.

It landed on the bed and held out its leg. Ron sat up and untied the formal looking letter attached to it.

When the owl had left the room looking very disgruntled, and Ron had shut the window after Hermione shivered in a very unsubtle way, he flopped back down on the bed.

'It's for you,' he said as he shut his eyes.

'Are you sure?' Hermione asked.

Ron grinned. 'Well, unless you changed my name to Hermione Granger without me knowing, then it's definitely for you!'

Hermione sighed, realising she would now have to open her eyes. She had known the letter was going to be for her as she had been told she would be receiving a letter from the Ministry of Magic this morning giving her details of the group project they were about to embark on. The coming week would not be spent in lessons in the Ministry, after their week of exams the Ministry decided to reward their hard work with a demanding project they would work in teams for, and would have the coming week to prepare and research it before being assessed on Monday.

She was about to roll over when a smile slid across her face.

'Ro-o-on,' she said.

'What?' Ron replied, eyes still closed but with a smirk on his face.

'Will you read the letter for me?' she asked in the same pleading tone she had said his name.

'Why should I?'

'Because you love me!'

'Is this leading up to emotional blackmail? Because if it is, I'll just read the letter now.'

Hermione grinned into her pillow, still without opening her eyes. She heard Ron open the envelope and pull out the letter. He cleared his throat.

'He-hem! _Dear Miss Granger_, _Enclosed are details about the group project you are to start today. The project will be undertaken without tutelage and it is up to the students to organise themselves appropriately. The groups are as follows_,' Ron took a huge breath as he had said all that without breathing.

'I was wondering when you were going to breathe!' Hermione said, smirking.

Again, Ron ignored her comment and carried on reading the letter.

'_Group one; Brookes, Euan. Creevey, Colin. Croxson, Jahaan. Entwistle, Michaela.'_

'Well, Michaela will be happy, God forbid, she should be separated from Euan for all of a week!'

'Now Hermione, don't be mean! Anyway, as I was saying, _Group two; Flitcroft, Marcus.'_

Ron paused as his eyes skimmed over the next two names. After realising he wasn't reading, he started again.

'_Granger, Hermione. Gregson, Cairo.'_

For the first time that morning Hermione opened her eyes and felt her stomach squirm slightly. She had noticed Ron's pause as he read the names and knew he was fighting an uncomfortable feeling.

'Do you want me to read the rest of the groups now you know who you're with?' Ron asked, in a casual tone.

'Er…Just tell me who Saviour Boy's working with.'

'Okay…Potter…Potter, Oh, there he his, _Group four: Lloyd, Sophia. Potter, Harry. Sefton, Seth._'

'Well, to be honest I don't really know Sophia well, although she knows _exactly_ who Harry is, if you catch my drift, and Seth's a sweet guy.'

'_Sweet_? I'll bet he _loves_ being called that!' Ron said sarcastically.

Hermione finally rolled over and faced Ron. 'What's wrong with being called sweet?' she asked, brow furrowed.

'It's not very…_macho_ is it?'

'Oh, and running around Hogsmeade with orange glitter across your arse _is_?'

Ron turned pink and frowned.

'How lo-'

'Years, Ron!' Hermione said, interrupting the question. '_Years_!'

'Oh,' he said quietly, looking slight disgruntled.

Hermione rolled onto her back and yawned. She was really quite tired and didn't want to get up and start contacting her group members to get their project underway. Hang on, she thought, what _is_ the project? It'll be in the letter, I'm sure.

Her tiredness was no match for her conscience though and after a few minutes she sat up and rubbed her eyes, trying to make herself feel less sleepy.

'Don't get up,' Ron said, pleadingly.

Hermione turned round and looked at him. 'I have to,' she said softly. 'I have to start on this project thing.'

'Just stay in bed for another hour. You had exams all last week, you deserve a break.'

'I think the Ministry considers the weekend just passed a long enough break!'

'Please Hermione, just another hour. One measly little hour isn't going to make a difference!'

Hermione smiled and felt her resolve crumble to the ground. She flopped back down on the bed. Ron smiled and snuggled up next to her.

'You're a bad influence on me!' she said, laughing.

'I've been a bad influence on you since the day we met. It's never bothered you before,' replied Ron as he kissed her shoulder.

'I didn't say it bothered me,' she replied with a cheeky grin on her face. 'But can I at least go to the bathroom?'

'Do you need the toilet?'

'No.'

'Then no!'

'But Ron, I really need to clean my teeth. This,' she waved her hand towards her mouth, 'is not good.'

'Use your wand,' Ron said simply. 'Don't give me that you'll-feel-guilty-for-not-using-a-toothbrush crap, I know you're parents are dentists but what they don't know won't hurt them. You know it does just as good a job!'

'Fine! I'll use my wand!'

She reached over and picked up her wand off her bedside table and put the tip in between her teeth and closed her lips around it. She thought the cleaning spell and instantly felt the very toothpaste like foam cover her teeth and clean them. When she first used the spell she was surprised at how like muggle teeth cleaning this spell was. After ten seconds the foam disappeared and she was minty fresh. She replaced the wand back on the table and put her arms back under the covers. Ron shuffled closer to her.

'If you want to get any closer you'll do the same!' she said as Ron inched closer to her face.

'Oh, right.'

He found his wand on top of the quilt and performed the same spell Hermione had. When he had finished he leant across her and placed his wand next to Hermione.

As he was hovering over Hermione he leaned forward and kissed her.

'Fresh enough for you?' he asked when he'd pulled back.

'I'd say so!' she said with a grin.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him back towards her. Ron kissed her hungrily and a smile spread across Hermione's face.

'So _this_ is why you didn't want me to get up!'

'I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about!'

Ten minutes later Hermione was brought back to earth by a persistent tapping on the window. She somehow managed to disentangle herself from Ron and look towards the window and saw another owl hovering on the other side of it, hitting the window with its beak at a ferocious pace.

'Ron!' Hermione mumbled, not really wanting him to stop what he was doing, but knowing she couldn't exactly…_enjoy_ his actions whilst the tapping sound reverberated around her. Ron on the other hand seemed oblivious to the noise.

'_Ron!_' she said louder, finally bringing him from his focus.

'What is it?' he mumbled.

'There's another owl at the window.'

'Ignore it,' he said, before kissing her again.

As much as she tried to block out the highly annoying tapping, she couldn't. Even Ron seemed to be getting annoyed by it. He let out a groan of frustration and leaned over to the bedside table and opened the window with his wand. The owl flew in and landed on the bed as the Ministry owl had earlier, Ron ripped the letter from its leg and threw it on the floor without looking at it and then wafted the owl towards the window.

He then got back to what was really on his mind, and kissed Hermione.

'Ron!' she exclaimed into his mouth.

Ron sighed. 'What now?'

'Did you not see what colour that envelope is?'

'I don't care! I have other things on my mind at the minute!'

He kissed her again. She pulled back for the third time.

'Ron! It's red! It's a howler!'

'What? Who the hell would be sending us a howler?'

'Well, I don't know but I think we're about to find out!'

The envelope had started to smoke on the wooden floor.

'That better not leave a burn!' Hermione mumbled.

After a few more second of smoking a voice came from the envelope, but it wasn't loud or angry, it was just like whoever it was, was talking to them face to face.

'_Hi Hermione, it's Cai._'

Ron sighed and threw himself back onto the bed, muttering incoherently to himself.

Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

'_Er…Sorry about the Howler, but I couldn't be arsed actually writing this down so I though I'd do this instead. I'm guessing you've got your letter from the Ministry telling you about this project we've got to do. I've already spoken to Marcus and he's okay to meet in about half an hour to start organising and stuff, if that's okay with you. It would be later but dad's asked me to help him in the shop this afternoon and I really need the money. If that's okay could you give me a ring? We don't have anywhere to meet yet so we need to find somewhere too. My number is-'_

'Crap! I need a pen!' Hermione exclaimed as she jumped out of bed.

She tried to listen to the number whilst running around her room like a headless chicken trying to find something to write with. The first thing she found was her black eyeliner pencil, so that was used to write down the number she hoped she had memorised properly, on the back of her hand.

'_So,'_ Cai's voice continued, '_I'll wait for you to call me and hopefully speak to you soon. Bye.'_

Hermione watched the letter burst into flames and leave a pile of ash on the floor. She collected her jeans off her desk chair and opened her wardrobe to find a top to wear.

'Hermione, please don't go, we haven't had a lazy day for ages! I wanted to spend the whole day with you,' Ron said pleadingly.

'Ron don't make this harder than it is,' she looked over her shoulder with a look that matched his previous tone of voice. 'You know I'd stay here if I could but you heard what Cai said; he can't do this afternoon so this morning's the only option.'

She turned back to her open wardrobe and pulled a simple t-shirt of its hanger.

Ron turned onto his side and propped himself up on his elbow. 'Do you at least know when you'll be back?'

'Well I doubt I'll be too long, maybe a couple of hours. We've got to talk through the project thoroughly and organise who's going to do what, but I can't see that taking too long. Cai generally doesn't mind what work he gets given and Marcus is pretty laid back too, so I doubt I'll have to argue with them to get them to do their fair share of work.'

She set off walking out of the bedroom to the bathroom when she stopped. She knew Ron was annoyed but didn't see what she could do about it.

'Ron, I'm sorry I have to go, but there's nothing I can do! I promise I'll be all yours when I come home!'

'No you won't,' Ron said sulkily. 'You'll want to get started on your project work and that'll be it for me seeing you _at any point _this week.'

Hermione sighed and decided she wasn't going to get anywhere with Ron in this mood so went to have a shower.

Five minutes later she emerged fully clothed from the bathroom and went back into the bedroom.

'So what have you got planned for the day then?' she asked cheerfully, trying to lift his mood.

'Nothing much, might watch the TV.'

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but decided against it.

'What?' Ron asked.

'Huh?' Hermione replied as she pulled her thick fleece over her head.

'What were you going to say? You went to say something and then you stopped.

'Oh, well…Aren't you a bit bored of not doing anything every day? I mean it's been a few months now.'

Ron immediately went on the defensive. 'No! And why are you bothered? It's not as if I'm supposed to be doing anything.'

'Okay!' Hermione said, trying to diffuse the tension as soon as possible.

'It bothers you doesn't it? It bothers you that I'm at home all day every day not doing anything!'

'Ron, I couldn't care less if you're not doing anything, as long as you're happy. I just thought you might be getting bored! I was going to try and suggest some things for you to do if you were but I won't bother now!'

She picked up her bag off the floor and put some parchment and a quill in and then added the letter from the Ministry.

'Like what?'

'Well…I dunno…you could go to Professor McGonagal and ask if you could help with the Quidditch teams, or you could help the twins in the shops, be a Weasley in the shop when they're not there.'

Ron looked thoughtful but didn't say anything to the suggestions.

'I'm going downstairs to phone Cai, do you want me to make you some coffee?'

Ron stayed quiet for a few seconds before answering. 'Yeah, please.'

Hermione left the room and went downstairs. She put the kettle on and picked up the phone. Before she dialled Cai's number she paused.

Why does his surname have to be Gregson? She thought. Of all the names to have and he has one that's next to mine alphabetically.

She started dialling the number on her hand.

'Fantastic,' she mumbled. '_Fan-bloody-tastic_!'

* * *

**PS. I loooooooooooove reviews:D :D :D :D :D**


	11. Chapter 11 Friends and their Problems

**And so the insecurities continue. Sorry it took so long but it's here now!**

**Please let me know what you think about this one, I have some 'issues' in my head about this one so any comments are welcome, (as long as they're constructive!)**

**Cheers, Step ;)**

* * *

Chapter 11

Ron was sat on the sofa flicking through the Daily Prophet when he heard three cracks coming from the kitchen. Immediately after them he heard laughter as if the people who had just apparated had continued to laugh through doing so.

He tried to not think about the fact that two of the voices seemed to be male when the other one was obviously Hermione's.

'Hermione?' he called casually.

'It's me Ron,' she replied cheerfully, obviously still smiling. She walked into the lounge and smiled at Ron. 'I hope you don't mind but the three of us came back here to talk about the project, all the café's in Diagon Alley were packed and were too noisy to concentrate. Is that all right?'

'Er…yeah, yeah it is. I'll leave you to it.'

He went to stand but Hermione stopped him.

'Don't get up, we'll use the kitchen, the table's bigger and there's less chance of us being distracted by the television if we're in there.

'Oh, okay.'

Hermione smiled at him as she left the lounge.

The three of them sat down at the kitchen table and pulled out parchment, quills and their letters from the Ministry.

'Right,' Marcus said looking at his letter.

'Right,' Cai said, mirroring Marcus' actions.

Hermione looked at the two of them for a few seconds with an expectant look on her face.

'Are there endings to those sentences?' Hermione asked with a smirk on her face.

'No!' Marcus said with a smirk to match Hermione's. 'So! The project.'

'Ah the project!' Cai replied.

'Do you two accept money for working as a double act or something?'

'Not yet, we're working on it though, just in case we fail miserably at being Aurors!' Cai replied.

'Optimistic couple aren't you?' Hermione asked.

'Cai!' Marcus exclaimed. 'I told you to keep our relationship a secret!'

Cai and Hermione burst out laughing at Marcus's comment, mainly because he had delivered the line with a straight face.

'Can we at least _try_ and concentrate on the job in hand?' Hermione asked, still giggling slightly.

'Yes Miss Granger, of course Miss Granger, sorry for being insubordinate Miss Granger!'

Hermione started laughing again along with Cai.

'Well, if nothing else this week is going to be entertaining even if we do fail the assignment!' she said.

'We won't fail Hermione,' Marcus said. 'I have charm beyond measure and quite a bit of intelligence even if I do say so myself. You two are lucky to be working with me!'

'Ha!' exclaimed Cairo. 'We've been here ten minutes and all you've managed to do is distract us for eight of them!'

'Well, Cai, I think you'll find that I've already read the project and understood it. We have to read the 'situation' that is described, research the past of the people involved and then plan a way of dealing with it. On Monday we will be placed in a mock up of the 'situation' and judged on how well we cope with the circumstances that arrive, as well as the five thousand word report which we will hand in on Monday morning before we are chucked in the deep end with only our wands and our brains to help us.'

'Well…that was…' Cai started, slightly lost for words.

'Very succinct Marcus. So, who are the people we have to research backgrounds on?'

The next hour and a half was used to determine who would research which 'character' as Marcus had put it, and who would look up which similar cases that had happened in the past that might help them.

When it reached twelve o'clock the kitchen suddenly became very overcrowded. Harry, Sophia and Seth apparated into the kitchen and the group of three became six.

Ron came into the kitchen at the extra noise and looked slightly overwhelmed at all the people he didn't know standing in his kitchen. He spoke to Harry for a minute and Hermione watched carefully, he seemed to relax and stayed in the kitchen while they decided what everyone was going to be doing in the next few minutes, as it was impractical for them to stay in the medium sized kitchen. The situation wasn't helped when Ginny arrived home for lunch and made the group up to eight.

'Well, as much as this looks entertaining, I've got to go. Paid work calls!'

'So, are we meeting here on Wednesday morning?' Marcus asked Hermione and Cai.

'Yeah, if that's alright with you Hermione, and Ron, Harry and Ginny of course!'

'Well Ginny will be at work, Harry won't be arsed at all and…Ron?'

Ron looked away from Harry and over to Hermione. Hermione waved him over and he walked over to her. She took his hand in hers.

'Do you mind if the three of us meet here again on Wednesday?'

Ron looked at Marcus and Cai, Marcus was smiling and Cai was looking nervous.

'No, I don't mind. You've got to work somewhere and you might as well do it somewhere where you're comfortable and have the room…well, you will have as long as Harry's group aren't here too!'

Hermione laughed.

'Thank you.' She squeezed his hand and he gave hers a small squeeze back.

'So what time do you want to meet?' Marcus asked. 'Will you be working in the afternoon again Cai?'

'I don't think so, Dad said he should be alright until Friday so anytime will be fine.'

'So do you want to do morning or afternoon?' Marcus asked.

'Do you mind doing morning?' Ron asked, catching Hermione off guard. 'I kind of have plans for Hermione in the afternoon.'

Hermione looked up at Ron trying not to show the rest of the people around her that she had no idea what Ron was talking about.

'No that's fine with me,' Marcus replied. 'Cai?'

'Yeah that's fine with me too.'

'Wednesday morning it is then. Nine o'clock?'

'Merlin Marcus! How early?' Cai exclaimed.

'Nine o'clock isn't early Cai, especially when you have a screaming three month old brother waking you up at half five!'

Cai smiled. 'I suppose. Nine it is then. Now I really have to go! I'll see you on Wednesday.'

He walked through the kitchen saying goodbye to everyone as he passed them and apparated when he arrived in the hallway.

Hermione stood up and faced Ron. 'What are we doing on Wednesday afternoon?' she whispered to him.

He smiled. 'I'm not exactly sure yet but I wanted to do something nice.'

Hermione went to say something but Ron stopped her.

'I know you've got this project work to do but you'll need a break so I thought you could take a few hours off and we could do something, just the two of us. It doesn't have to be extravagant or fancy, just some 'us' time, we haven't had that for a while.'

Hermione smiled. Again she tried to comment but this time she was interrupted by Ginny.

'Hermione! Do you want to get some pizza for lunch? I've managed to persuade Harry to not get it from that hovel down the road so it should be edible!'

Everyone but Harry chuckled.

'You know, I'll say it _again_, you've never been ill from eating there!'

'_Yet_!' Ginny replied. She turned back to Hermione. 'So do you three want in?'

'I do!' Ron answered.

'There's a surprise!' Ginny said with a smirk. 'Hermione?'

'Yeah, sounds good.'

'Marcus?'

'Er…if no one minds me staying and taking up a chair then, yeah! Please!'

'Of course no one minds! So that makes-,' she counted the people in the kitchen, '-seven! Now comes the tricky part, what does everyone want? H, your usual?'

'Of course!'

'Ron? Meat feast?'

'Naturally!'

'Marcus?'

'I'm easy!'

'I know _that_ Marcus, I was asking what type of pizza you wanted!'

Everyone laughed.

'Ginny, _I_ taught _you_ that joke _years ago_. You _can't_ use a joke on the person who taught it you! It's just…_wrong_!'

'You're the one who said the line! What was I supposed to do? _Anyway_, can you be a bit more specific and tell me what type of pizza you would like.'

'Pepperoni please, _Ginevra_.'

Ginny glared at him. 'So that's a vegetarian for Marcus! Sophie?'

She took the orders of the rest of the group and then apparated away to get their lunch.

Hermione was distracted by the happy chatter that had started up on Ginny's departure, by a green light coming from the lounge. It only lasted a second before it died away, and Hermione had a good idea that they had just been sent a message by floo.

She excused herself from the conversation and went to collect whatever they had been sent. Ron followed her into the lounge and watched as she picked up the piece of parchment that was sat in the fireplace.

'What is it?' Ron asked.

'It's for you,' Hermione replied as she handed Ron the parchment.

Ron took it and unfolded it. His brow furrowed as he read it.

'What's wrong?' Hermione asked.

'It's er…it's Seamus, he's broken up with his girlfriend, Laura. He wants me to go and help him drown his sorrows in The Leaky Cauldron.'

'Is that such a good idea?'

'What do you mean?' Ron said, brow furrowed.

'Well…nothing, well, no that's a lie, it's just…last time you went out with Seamus you got beaten up!'

'That wasn't Seamus's fault and it was hardly mine either!' Ron said loudly, as he turned faintly pink.

'I know I know!' Hermione protested quickly. 'I just…don't want you getting hurt again. Seamus isn't exactly a happy drunk is he?'

Ron glared at the floor, he could hardly argue against that comment; Seamus did have a tendency to become violent when he'd been drinking and was angry or upset.

'Look, Hermione, I'll be fine. He needs a friend to talk to and I'm that friend. I'll be fine.'

'Are you going now or having your pizza first.'

'I'll go now, I'll get something in the pub.'

'Which one are you going to?'

'He's at the Leaky Cauldron, I think we'll leave it a bit longer before we go to the Three Broomsticks again.'

'Okay. When will you be back.'

Ron sighed. 'I don't know, I don't know what state he'll be in or what he'll want to do later on. I could be late back, don't wait up for me.'

Hermione looked at the floor deciding to accept what Ron was going to be doing this afternoon and tonight. He was being a good friend; he didn't have a choice. She would have done the same if it had been her.

'Fine, just be careful.'

'I will.'

He leant forward and gave her a quick kiss goodbye.

Hermione watched Ron weave through the various people in he kitchen with apprehension creeping up inside her. He stopped and had a quick work with Harry as he passed him. Harry nodded at whatever Ron had said and clapped him on the shoulder as he walked away.

Hermione turned round and looked into the fireplace.

Please let him be alright, she thought desperately, _please_!

* * *

It was eleven minutes past midnight and Hermione was sat at the kitchen table, her nose only a few inches from her parchment and her quill scratching its way across it.

She jumped at the sudden crack from the lounge and as a result her newly loaded quill spurted its ink across the parchment and Hermione's nose.

'_Crap_!' Hermione exclaimed as she picked up her wand, pointed it at her nose and muttered the cleaning spell. 'Ron?' she asked the doorway.

''Mione?' Ron replied tiredly.

She heard him shuffle through the lounge and then saw him appear at the door.

'What are you still doing up?' he asked as he landed hard on the chair opposite Hermione.

'What time is it?' Hermione asked as she looked at the clock on the cooker. 'Merlin! I didn't realise it was so late!'

She looked back at Ron and saw he had put his head on his folded arms and closed his eyes.

'How's Seamus?' she asked cautiously.

Ron managed to sit himself up and open his eyes. 'Not good. He's trying to be all macho about the whole thing by brushing it off as 'experience' but then he just breaks down and cries. I've never seen him like that before, it's…disconcerting to say the least…'

Hermione was about to try and comfort Ron but he started talking again before she had the chance.

'You know how you have…things in your life that don't ever change, and because of that you feel comforted because _whatever_ happens those things will always be the same. As long as they are then you know things are still _normal_?'

'Er…I think so.'

'Like whatever happens, the sky is still blue, the grass is still green, the world is still round and the sun is still hot! Well one of my things was, Seamus was always happy-go-lucky and would never let anything get to him. So to see him unbelievably…_messed up_ by this whole Laura thing make me feel really…weird. Does that makes sense.'

Hermione gave him a half smile. 'Yes it does. Of course it does. One of my things is…everything will be all right as long as I have you and Harry beside me through anything. When you didn't wake up, for the first few weeks I didn't know how to cope with anything, one of my…_comforts,_ for want of a better word, was gone. I didn't know what to do.'

Ron surveyed Hermione through his tired eyes and looked deep in thought. He opened his mouth a couple of times before he started to speak again as if arguing with himself about saying what he wanted to.

'Don't ever leave me,' he eventually said very quietly, catching Hermione off guard.

'What?' she asked, eyes wide.

'Please, don't ever leave me. I don't think I'd cope.'

'What in God's name has made you think I ever would?' she asked, becoming more concerned.

'Just, please…promise me you won't.'

'I won't! You _know_ I won't. I-'

'Thank you. Can we go to bed now, I'm about to fall asleep.'

Hermione was torn between wanting to carry on talking to Ron about his obvious insecurities and letting him get some sleep. The latter won, now she had stopped working for a few minutes she was becoming tired herself.

'Yeah, of course.'

She left her work things where they were on the table and the two of them went up to bed.

'Night Ron,' she said as she started to fall asleep.

'Night 'Mione.'

She turned to face him which made him open his eyes and look at her.

'What?' he asked.

'I love you, you know that don't you?' she asked, needing Ron to reassure her.

After a few seconds Ron replied. 'I love you too, and I know.'

Hermione turned back onto her side and closed her eyes. As much as Ron had said what she needed him to say, she still felt uneasy and she wasn't sure why. After a minute more of worrying she cleared her mind, she was being stupid, she told herself. I love him, and he knows that! She thought, how can he not know that?

When her mind had beaten down her protests with logical reasoning she managed to drift off to sleep, but that didn't stop her dreams being filled with uneasy visions of Seamus comforting an inconsolable Ron and the finger of blame being pointed at her.


	12. Chapter 12 Football of all things

**Oh my life I haven't laughed so hard in days...anyone else see Richard get stuck in the sofa in Big Brother? Bloody marvelous!**

**This one took a bit longer than I thought considering I started writing it a good month ago, this was always one the cards as a chapter, it just had to be tweaked as the storyline changed slightly.**

**And no, I'm not a Manchester City on United fan (shudders at the thought!) Please tell me what you thought of it, for some reason it's longer than I thought it would be and I don't know why! Anyway...**

**Step ;)**

* * *

Chapter 12

Hermione was sat on the floor surrounded by paper. She was trying to organise her notes so she could write her part of the report for handing in on Monday. She had three days to write it and make sure it fitted with Marcus's and Cai's.

Ron was sat on the sofa watching a football match with a can of muggle lager in his hand. The volume was turned up quite loud and Ron was adding to the noise by shouting at the referee whenever there was a foul committed by a player, or whenever he felt he should.

Hermione sighed as she crossed out the sentence she was writing for the third time.

'Ron could you turn that down please?'

'Huh?' he asked not moving his eyes from the television set.

'Could you turn the television down please? I'm trying to concentrate.'

'Oh, yeah…okay.'

He picked up the remote from the sofa and turned the volume down a couple of notches.

Hermione started again on her notes. She wrote a few more sentences but stopped again when she had crossed out more words than she had written.

'Ron, _please_ can you turn that down? Either that or stop shouting so loud,' she asked irritably.

'But I'm watching the game!'

'Since when do you watch or care about football? You don't even know the rules of the game. I'll put money on you not knowing who's playing too!'

'I know exactly who's playing thank you…' he screwed his eyes up trying to decipher the three letter code that told him the name of the teams in the top left hand corner of the television screen. 'It's…Manchester…City and Bla…Black…_burn_…' he was so proud of himself for remembering the teams' name, now all he had to do was remember what came next. 'Town? And I do so know the rules of football! Each team has to try and get the ball into their…rectangle net…thing. There are eleven people on each team and they can only use their feet to move the ball.'

'Okay, for your own safety please don't _ever_ go up to someone wearing a red football shirt in Manchester and ask them how City are doing, and I'm sure the people at Blackburn _Rovers_ are just dying for you to become their mascot. But when it comes to the rules of the game, _how wrong I was_! You truly _do_ know the rules of football.'

'I _do_! Ask me anything!'

'Ok, what happens when a player gets two yellow cards?'

'Er…he gets to keep them?'

'Hardly…what is the offside rule?'

'Oh! I know this one, when the ball crosses the white lines the other team gets to throw the ball in.'

''Fraid not.'

Ron frowned. 'Why are you stressed out anyway?'

'You know we've got this report to write!'

'It's only a project though!'

'I don't care if it's _only a project_ Ron; you know how I feel when it comes to work of any kind. Why are you even surprised? Hermione snapped.

'Okay _fine_! I'll turn it off!' he shouted.

'I'm not asking you to _turn it off_, I'm asking you to _turn it down_ so I can concentrate on my work.'

'Yes, and we all know how important your work is don't we?' Ron mumbled, but Hermione still heard him.

'What the hell is that supposed to mean?' she snarled, barely keeping what had become a very short temper in the past few days under control.

'Well you can't let a minute go by without reminding me how important _your_ work is and how you're becoming an _asset_ to the Ministry!'

'_What_?' Hermione asked, standing up.

Ron copied her movements and stood up, but then walked to the television and forcefully switched it off. Hermione saw it flicker as he got nearer to it.

'You can't help yourself telling me what a wonderful time you're having at the Ministry, and how you think you'll be able to make a lasting impression, and how you hope to be someone who can make the wizarding world a better place to live in. Every time you come home you ask me what I've done and I say 'not much' or something similar you look down on me!'

Hermione was taken aback by what Ron had just said, but she quickly pulled herself together to answer his accusations.

'_I would _NEVER _look down on you_! I just sometimes think that you have so much more to offer the wizarding world than sitting on your arse all day watching the sodding TV does. And as for me wanting to give something for the wizarding world, what's so wrong with that? What can be wrong about wanting to make the world we live in a better place? _You certainly didn't have a problem with it when we were trying to destroy _VOLDEMORT!'

'That…that was totally different!'

'HOW? How was it different?'

'It…it just WAS!'

Hermione and Ron glared at each other. Hermione decided to leave the room before she said something she regretted. She hated it when Ron was like this, they were both stubborn and it was that trait in each of them that made situations like this so much harder to sort out.

She picked up her notes off the floor. Ron smirked.

'WHAT?' she screamed at him.

The volume of her voice shocked him.

'Merlin! Nothing!'

Hermione continued to pick up her notes. When she had she marched past Ron.

'Where are you going?' Ron asked to her back.

'Upstairs to my room, I wouldn't want to disturb anymore of your _precious football match_!'

She banged up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door. Ron clenched his fists and threw himself down on the sofa. He grabbed the remote and tried to switch the television back on, not realising it would only work if the set was on stand-by. He threw the remote on the floor out of frustration and folded his arms across his chest in a huff.

Hermione was lying on her bed staring at the ceiling. As soon as she had shut, or rather _slammed_, her door she had made it imperturbable. She wasn't sure what she might do if Ron tried to follow her into her room. She didn't know it but she was doing what Ron was doing downstairs, balling her hands into fists and getting extremely frustrated. She stood up and looked around her, she could feel energy coursing through her and knew it would be safest to release it voluntarily before she had little choice about the magic she would unknowingly perform. She paced around trying to calm herself down but she couldn't think of anything that helped. She turned to a pillow and pointed her wand at it and screamed in frustration.

The pillow exploded sending feathers everywhere. She sighed looking at the now very white bed. Luckily for her cleaning it up wasn't a problem.

'Reparo,' she said quietly, slightly ashamed of herself for getting so worked up. But she couldn't help it. Why did he say things that he knew would hurt her? If he had only been a bit more receptive to her suggestions that he find something to do he found interesting rather than just slobbing around the house all day every day. But no, he would insist he 'deserved' to do nothing for the next six months before starting Auror training because of the 'ordeal' he had been through. The only comment he had been slightly interested in was going to Hogwarts once a week to help the Quidditch teams with their defence strategies. But he had yet to act on it.

She laid back on her bed refusing to let herself cry, but before she had the chance to she heard the phone ring downstairs.

She stood up, took the charms off her door and made her way down the stairs to the lounge. Ron only seemed to make an effort to answer the phone once Hermione had entered the room and sighed indignantly.

'Don't bother!' she snapped, as Ron was half way towards the cradle.

Hermione snatched the phone from its holder and answered the call.

'_Hello_!' she said with a bit more venom than she normally would.

'Hermione?' the voice at the end of the phone replied. 'It's Cai, what on earth's wrong?'

'Oh, hey Cai, its nothing. I'm fine.'

Ron glared at Hermione and she glared back daring him to make any sort of comment about the fact that Cai had just phoned her.

'Oh, okay then,' Cai said, not believing a word Hermione had just said.

Ron watched Hermione speak to Cai from the corner of his eye and grew more and more annoyed as Hermione calmed down. How come she calms down when she talks to _him_? He thought irrationally.

After a few minutes Hermione hung up the phone and Ron turned to face her, an infuriating smirk on his face.

'WHAT?' she screeched. 'What in Merlin's name are you _smirking at_?'

Ron's smirk disappeared instantly.

'Can't Cai go a day without having the urge to speak to you?'

'RON! We're working together along with Marcus on a bloody hard project which we need to _help each other with_! I was gonna phone him to ask him the same bloody question before you-'

'_Before I_ WHAT?' Ron shouted, interrupting Hermione.

'Before you got me so wound up I could hardly _think straight_ never mind concentrate _on my _WORK!'

'Oh I'm _so_ sorry for interrupting your precious work!' Ron hissed, sitting down on the sofa and turning up the volume of the football match.

Hermione jumped when the phone rang in her hand, she nearly dropped it but managed to get a tight grip on it before answering it with even more venom than she had the last time.

'HELLO!' she shouted down the receiver.

'Er…Hi, is that Hermione?'

'YES!'

'Oh…er it's Rachel. Is this a bad time?'

Hermione took a deep breath trying to calm herself down.

'Sorry Rachel,' she said as she walked through the lounge. She stopped in front of the television and glared at Ron. 'Ron's being a _complete arse_ and winding me up _something chronic_, I didn't mean to snap at you.'

She stalked out of the room and marched upstairs into her room.

'That's okay, I can call at another time if you're busy.'

'No it's fine. I think I need the break, if I speak to him much more I'll do something I regret. So, how are you?'

'Well I was going to say not too good, but after _that_ little outburst I think I'm doing better than you! Why are you so…angry!'

Hermione sighed in frustration. 'I think he's just jealous of the time I have to spend with someone who used to like me…more than friends. He's so _bloody_ jealous and so _bloody_ stubborn it's unbelievable!'

'Oh, he's the jealous type then is he?'

'You could say that! Anyway, you didn't phone to here my problems, how are you?'

'You know this phoning each other can work both ways you know, I'm here if _you_ need someone to talk to, someone who isn't directly involved in…_your world_.'

Hermione smiled. 'Thanks Rach, but stop changing the subject!'

Rachel laughed. 'Well I have some…news, although that really isn't the right word…that lad I told you I was kind of seeing…well he's officially going out with that other girl now.'

'Oh…I'm sorry.'

'What makes it worse is she's on my course so I see her most days I'm in uni. It's annoying to say the least!'

'Want me to hex her for you?'

Hermione is slightly shocked by the comment that came out her mouth. Hermione, she thought, you _really_ needed to keep your anger under control!

Rachel laughed at the comment.

'Something tells me you aren't actually allowed to do that!'

'No,' Hermione conceded, 'I'm not, not without a damn good reason anyway. I shouldn't have said it really, this is what happens when Ron winds me up!'

'Well I have a better solution, me and my mates are going out in London on Monday night, there's a club which is a student honey pot because it's a pound a drink on a Monday and we are all going to go out and get thoroughly drunk to make ourselves feel better! I was wondering if you wanted to join us. Considering you're having a bit of a rough time I recommend it entirely!'

Hermione laughed. 'Well, Monday sounds great because we have a major assessment during the day and will probably want to wind down somehow. That is if you don't mind me bringing some of my friends too! Could make the night slightly more interesting!'

'No I don't mind at all! Are any of them single?' Rachel giggled after her comment.

'Yes actually, some of them are! Do you want me to bring as many single wizards as possible?'

'_Yes_! Do you even need to ask that?'

Hermione laughed. 'No, I suppose I don't.'

The two of them fell silent for a few seconds. Rachel broke the silence.

'Are you sure you're all right?' she asked.

'Yeah I'm fine, it'll all blow over soon enough.'

'Okay, if you're sure.'

'I am,' Hermione replied with a sigh.

'Wow, that was _really_ convincing I must say, but I'm gonna leave it until I see you on Monday. I'll phone you with the finer details on Sunday if that's okay?'

'Yeah that's fine. I'll speak to you then. Bye, and thanks Rach.'

'That's okay Hermione, and thank you too. Bye.'

Hermione hung up the phone and put it on her bed. She was excited about Monday night; the last time she had gone out was New Years Eve, and she knew everyone who she took along would have a good time too.

As much as she wanted to think about the fun she needed to have on Monday night, she knew she was just avoiding the issue that was sat on the sofa downstairs, sulking. Resigned to the fact that she wouldn't be able to concentrate much on her work without putting an end to the sulk, she picked up the phone she had dropped on her bed and walked down the stairs, through the kitchen to the lounge.

She replaced the phone in its cradle and sat herself on the arm of the sofa, her feet up on the seat, looking directly at Ron's profile.

'How's your annoying cousin?' Ron asked without looking at Hermione.

Hermione immediately reddened, almost as quickly as Ron did when he was angry or embarrassed.

'Oh, you need to try _that_ again!' she snapped.

Ron 'hmphed' and unfolded his arms before fidgeting and folding them again. He didn't start another conversation so Hermione took the initiative.

'How did the game finish?' Hermione asked with as much politeness as she could muster.

'Dunno, didn't watch the end.'

'Oh, well what was the score when you switched it off?'

'Four, three to Blackburn.'

'Oh right,' Hermione replied, not really knowing or caring what this meant to the English football league.

'So what did Rachel want?' Ron asked, with about the same amount of politeness as Hermione had managed with her earlier conversation starter.

'Oh, she wanted to invite us out on Monday night to a club in London if we wanted. She's been having a bit of a rough time and wants to get insanely drunk and invited us along.'

'To a muggle club?' Ron asked, interested in the prospect of clubbing with a large amount of muggles.

'Yeah, it's a student bar, pound a drink apparently!'

'A pound? Is that cheap?' Ron asked. He had never really got his head round the muggle to wizard exchange rate.

'Yeah it is, very cheap.'

'Sounds cool!'

'Yeah it should be. She wants me to bring along as many single wizards as possible for her to meet too!' she said with a smile.

Ron managed to reply with a half-smile.

'I think it'll be a good way for people at work to wind down after the stress of this week and our assessment on Monday morning.'

Ron's half-smile instantly slipped off his face.

'Who are you going to invite?' he asked in what he thought was a casual tone.

'I dunno really…er, Harry and Ginny, everyone in our group and anyone else who wants to come along. And you of course, if you want to.'

'_Everyone_ in your group?'

'_Yes_,' Hermione replied, instantly annoyed. She knew he was referring to Cai, _again_. 'Who wouldn't I invite? I get on with everyone in my group and most of the people in Harry's too!'

'I suppose you'll be inviting _Cai_ too!'

'Ron don't start this again. I can't be bothered having this same argument, especially twice in the same hour! He's my friend; of course I'm going to invite him, and you never know, him and Rachel might fall desperately in love with each other!'

Ron seemed slightly comforted by this thought and didn't pursue the 'Cai' fight anymore.

'Do you want a coffee?' he asked as he looked at her for the first time since she had arrived in the lounge.

Okay, Hermione thought, not exactly an apology but for the time being, it'll do.


	13. Chapter 13 Remembering the Pain

**Man I liked this one! Again, I had originally planned to put this in Falling Star but it didn't really go and I think it fits quite well in with this plotline!**

**Thanks for the many reviews for the last chapter, they were all much appreciated, and if you could all do the same for this one I'll be well happy :D**

**Cheers, Step ;)**

Chapter 13

Hermione was crouched down behind a waist height wall. Cai, Marcus and herself were sat with their backs against it deciding on their plan of action. They were inside the Ministry's latest training equipment – something that was based on watching memories inside a pensieve but where the 'characters' in the virtual world reacted to what the people being tested did. It was the wizarding world's version of virtual reality, but in their version, the large headsets weren't necessary.

They were charged with their mission. They were to disable the people inside without lethal force and without letting them apparate before they were captured, whilst making sure none of them became injured or harmed in anyway.

They had been inside their 'simulation' for a minute now, Hermione had already placed anti-apparation wards around the building and she was waiting for Marcus's opinion on the best way to attack it without, of course, being seen or detected.

Hermione was nervous but felt exhilarated at the challenge that lay before her. As much as this was only the first 'simulation' they had had to prepare for and execute, and therefore, was in no way critical to their final acceptance on to the higher training programme but she still, as always, wanted to do her absolute best.

'There's pretty good tree cover on three sides of the house, I say house, more like a one-roomed brick shack,' Marcus whispered to Hermione and Cai, 'but those are the sides with the least access into it. There is a small, high window on each side.'

'High enough and small enough to be hard to escape out of?' Hermione asked, also in whisper.

'You wouldn't get out of them easily but we're better bewitching them closed just in case. We'll each take one side.'

'We'd better strengthen the walls as well, it'll make it harder for them to blast through them if they decided to try and escape that way.'

'Good thinking,' Marcus said. 'Any specific strengthening spell?'

'_Roboro_ is best for walls.'

'War?' Marcus asked.

'War,' Hermione replied.

'Come on we're wasting time!' Cai said, getting fidgety.

'Right,' Marcus continued. 'Cai you take the wall closest to us here, Hermione you take the one to the right and I'll take the one to the left. Try and stay as close to the building as you can, when we get to the front, Hermione you blast the door open and we'll charge the place together and deal with whatever they throw at us. Okay?'

'Okay,' Hermione and Cai agreed together.

'Come on then,' Marcus said with a glint in his eye. 'Let's go have some fun!'

The three of them ran as quickly as they could whilst crouched down to their designated side of the building. Hermione leant her back against the wall and looked at the window above her.

_Collofenestra_ she though, concentrating hard on the spell as she pointed her wand above her head. She turned so she was facing the wall and touched the crumbling brick with her wand tip.

_Roboro_ she thought and a purple glow spread in a circle from her wand tip and covered the entire wall. Just to make sure, she performed the spell again and felt comforted when the glow disappeared for the second time. She quickly and quietly made her way along the side of the house and peered around the edge. Marcus and Cai were peering back at her.

_Ready_, Marcus mouthed at Hermione. Hermione nodded and was about to step in front of the door when Cai got her attention. He pointed to his eye, then to a place to Hermione's right. Hermione looked at where he was pointing to and spotted a fairly large and perfectly placed bush from behind which she could blast the door off its hinges.

She nodded back at Cai but then her suspicions caught up with her. The bush was a little too well placed for her liking. She held up her index finger and mouthed _one minute_ to Cai and Marcus. She pointed her wand at the bush and thought _Veneficium Retego_. A thin red beam erupted from the end of her wand and she scanned the bush for signs of anything magical concealed in it. She stopped when the beam showed there was something large hidden inside. Her eyes widened and she looked at Marcus and Cai. From what she could see of the shape she thought she recognised it as an intruder sensor, which was more than likely covering the door and the area in front of it where she was just about to step into.

_Finite_ she thought, and the red beam disappeared. _Reducto_. The beam burnt a hole in the front of the bush and Hermione saw it land on the black object inside, instantly it started to shrink and a few seconds later it was gone completely.

Marcus gave her a thumbs up. Hermione replied to the gesture by tapping her watch with her wand. She moved in front of the door and Cai and Marcus took up a place on either side of her.

_Displodo_ she thought, concentrating on every syllable. The door burst inwards, showering the three occupants and the ragged furniture inside with splinters of every size.

'_Expelliarmus!' _Cai shouted, and the wizard fumbling for his wand whilst writhing on the floor watched as his wand left his cloak.

_Accio Wand!_ Hermione thought and the wand shot towards her, she caught it in her left hand and pointed both wands into the building. Marcus had managed to incarcerate the second of the three wizards; he was unconscious and bound on the floor. Cairo stupefied the wizard he had disarmed and all of their attentions were focused on the remaining wizard. They had yet to try and curse him, as he had conjured himself a protective shield. However, the shield had yet to fade away and it had been strong since a few seconds after the door had been blasted apart.

Marcus picked up the wand that the first wizard to fall had dropped so there were now five wands pointing at the one wizard and his shield.

'That isn't the _Protego_ spell, Hermione,' Marcus said, not taking his eyes off the shield.

'No it's not, but I've seen it before,' Hermione replied.

A memory flashed through her mind, she saw Bill Weasley send a curse at a Death Eater who produced a shield, the same type that she was stood in front of, and it bounce off it and hit Bill squarely in the chest. She visibly flinched as she remembered the scream that came from Bill as he fell and writhed in pain on the floor.

'You have?' Cai asked, slightly louder than was necessary.

'Yeah,' Hermione replied as she shook her head, physically trying to remove the memory from her mind's eye.

'So what's the counter?' Cai demanded.

'Nothing,' Hermione replied simply.

'_Nothing_?' Cai shouted. 'What do you mean _nothing_?'

'Cai calm down!' Marcus said, slightly angry at Cai's attitude.

'There's nothing we can do to the shield, anything we send at it will just rebound straight at us, but the shield will diminish in a couple of minutes.'

'So we just do nothing?' Cai asked disbelievingly.

'I just said, anything we send at it will bounce back at us, I'm not sure but I think it amplifies the effect of any spells that hit it, so you really don't want to try and penetrate it with curses or hexes. It'll wear out eventually, he wants us to panic and try and break the shield, we just have to sit tight and wait for it to fade, then we can be quick and stun him.'

'Sounds like a plan to me!' Marcus said, jovially.

'As long as you're sure,' Cai said.

'Believe me,' Hermione replied. The memory of Bill writhing on the floor in agony came to her again and she physically winced. 'I'm sure.'

For the next two minutes Hermione stared at the shield in front of her. She refused to look at the wizard inside, but if she had she would have seen his initial smirk as he eluded the three trainee Aurors fade as they realised hexing the shield would have done more harm than good. Now that he was facing two wizards and one witch who would attack the second his shield faded, his confidence was diminishing quickly.

Hermione's mind was not in the small brick building in which she was currently stood; it was back in the open field where Harry had finally faced Voldemort. When she had finally rid her mind of the image of Bill falling foul to his own curse it was to be replaced by the fallen form of Ron. She felt the exact same sickening feeling in her stomach as she did when she had first laid eyes on him and thought that he was dead.

Tonks being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange quickly replaced the image of Ron, and Hermione felt tears well up in her eyes. _NO!_ She thought desperately. _Concentrate! This isn't real!_

'SHIT!'

Hermione was brought form her daydreams by Marcus's yell and saw a spell coming right at her. The wizard had caught them off guard by cutting the shield spell short and sending a curse at Hermione.

Luckily Hermione's reactions were still as sharp as they had had to be in the war. She instantly thought the more basic shield charm and the curse deflected off and hit the brick wall.

'STUPEFY!' Marcus and Cai screamed together and the two spells hit the wizard and he slumped to the floor.

Hermione felt sick and her legs felt like jelly underneath her.

'We did it!' Marcus said, a grin sliding across his face.

Hermione tried to smile but she couldn't move. She took a step backwards and her leg gave way.

'Woah!' Marcus exclaimed as he saw Hermione fall and leaped forward to catch her before she hit the floor.

Hermione held onto him as the scene around them faded and vanished. She tried to stop the tears in her eyes falling but failed. After a few seconds she was crying.

'Hey, come here,' Marcus said soothingly. He pulled her towards him and hugged her. She held onto him as if her life depended on it and sobbed into his shoulder.

Kingsley Shacklebolt walked over to Hermione and Marcus.

'Hermione, it's all right, it's over now. You did everything right.'

Hermione didn't react to Kingsley's words. He looked at her and realised why she was upset, if he was truthful with himself, he wasn't very surprised she was upset.

'I think she should go home sir,' Marcus said quietly.

'Can you take her?' Kingsley asked.

'Yeah I can, I'll take her downstairs and apparate us to her house.'

Kingsley nodded and walked back to the group of tutors who were marking their assessment.

'Do you want any help?' Cai asked.

'No, it's okay,' he replied. He turned his head closer to Hermione's. 'Hermione, you need to let go of me and walk to the lifts, then I'll apparate you home.'

Hermione lifted her head off Marcus's shoulder and took a shaky breath. 'You don't need to apparate me home. I'll…I'll be fine.'

'I know I don't need to apparate you home, but I want to make sure you're okay when you get there, and that Ron's there to keep an eye on you. I don't have to be a genius to realise why you went all weird in there. You were remembering…stuff…from the war, weren't you?'

Hermione nodded as fresh tears made their way down her face.

'So in which case I'm definitely taking you home. Come on'

Marcus led Hermione by the hand through the various corridors in the Ministry and to the lifts. They reached the Atrium by which time Hermione had started to cry again. As much as she tried she couldn't get rid of the images swimming in front of her eyes.

Marcus pulled her into a hug as they came to a stop and turned on the spot, apparating Hermione home.

'Hermione?' Ron called from the kitchen after he heard a crack. 'That you?'

'Ron it's Marcus, er…could you come here please?'

Ron got up off the kitchen chair and ran into the lounge. His eyes widened when he saw Hermione holding onto Marcus.

'What's going on? What happened to her? _What the hell happened_?'

'Ron calm down!' Marcus said bravely.

'Don't you tell me to calm down! Tell me what happened!'

He walked next to Hermione and prized her off Marcus, she didn't really realise she was being moved, and just grabbed onto Ron like she had Marcus.

'It's nothing major, physically she's fine she's just…'

'_Just what_?' Ron demanded.

'She's just upset because she started remembering things from…from the war.'

Ron paled and hugged Hermione harder. 'What made her do that?' he asked angrily as he put his hand on the back of Hermione's head.

'This assessment thing, we had to ambush these people in this shack and take them out, I presume it brought back what you'd been through so I brought her back here straight away.'

'Oh Merlin!' Ron sighed.

Hermione let out a choked sob.

'Shh Hermione, it's okay, I'm here, you're safe now.'

'I'm gonna go, if you don't mind I'll come back later and see if she's alright.'

'Whatever!' Ron mumbled at him.

'Right, bye then.'

Marcus disapparated and left Ron and Hermione alone in the lounge. After a minute Hermione's sobbing slowed and she pulled back an inch from Ron so she could speak.

'I c…couldn't help it!' she stammered. 'I just k…kept s…seeing everyone hurt and I c…couldn't st…stop it!'

Ron pulled her closer to him again as she started to cry once more.

'Shh, come on Hermione, stay strong. It's over, everything's over, it's finished and it's in the past. I won't let anyone hurt you anymore. Not anymore.'

He stared at the spot Marcus had disapparated from and his eyes glazed over.

'No one will hurt you. _No one_. _Ever_.'


	14. Chapter 14 A Friend in Need

**Finally! Sorry for the wait but I had to get that other fic out of my system before I went mad. 'Together Forever?' should follow in the not to distant future, again, sorry for the delay.**

**Hope you all like this one, I know he's an original character but I love writing Marcus, if only he were real (sighs) lol**

**Let me know what you think. Cheers, Step ;)**

Chapter 14

'Ron, I am going out tonight regardless of what you and Harry think. Ginny thinks I should go out so I have no idea why you two have a problem with it all of a sudden!'

Hermione was talking into their wardrobe as she tried to decide what she wanted to wear that night. Ron was stood behind her, adamant that he would win this disagreement.

'I have a problem with it because you were unbelievably upset this morning, you're tired from the work you've been doing and you're mentally exhausted. What you need is a good nights sleep, not drinking stupidly and getting drunk!'

'Ron, look, I've been looking forward to this night out all weekend. I understand why you're worried but I need to go out and have a good time. I don't have to be in work tomorrow so I'll get a long lie-in in the morning, and I can relax all day.'

Ron stepped forward and spun Hermione round so she was facing him.

'Hermione, I've not seen you like that in a long time. It scared me seeing you like that again. I just want to make sure you're all right. Why won't you let me do that?'

'I _did_ let you do that. You were there for me when I needed you and I'm grateful, extremely grateful, but I'm fine now. You calmed me down and brought me out of that…horrible place in my head that I don't often visit. But I'm out of it now and I need to go and have fun with you and all my friends. _Please_ understand that.'

Ron frowned and looked at the wooden floor. Hermione looked at him and smiled.

'I love it when you pout,' she said quietly, trying to make him smile.

'And here's me trying to look all serious!' he said with a half smile. 'I'm just trying to look out for you Hermione, I just want to make you to be safe and happy.'

'I know you do, and with you next to me I'll be both.'

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Ron on the nose.

'Now, the most important decision of the day…' she turned back towards the wardrobe and took out two tops, one a black corset and the other a lilac, longer length strappy top with sequins along the straps.

'Which top should I wear?

Ron looked at them both and frowned. 'Is this one of those trick questions where it doesn't matter what I say, because you'll just choose the other one anyway?'

'No, not at all!' she answered.

She moved the hand that was holding the black corset to Ron and the other one nearer to her and then she started staring at the corset.

Ron laughed. 'Why did you even ask me if you've already decided which one you want to wear?'

'I haven't already decided…well…I hadn't.'

'Hermione do you want me to tell you to wear the black one?'

'Only if you want me to wear the black one.'

'Fine, I want you to wear the black one!'

'Excellent choice! Now all I have to decide is which shoes to wear.'

'Surely you're not just wearing a top and shoes! What about your bottom half?'

Hermione look exasperated at Ron's comment.

'_Ha ha_!' she replied. 'I've already decided I'm wearing my jeans. Now, do I put my crippling knee length boots on or…no, there is no other option really. I'll wear my knee length boots!'

'The ones that make it easier to kiss you?'

Hermione giggled. 'Yes, those ones. Now what are you wearing?'

Ron sighed and flopped down on the bed. He covered his face with his hands and rubbed his eyes.

'What do you want me to wear?' he asked.

'Don't answer my question with another question just to avoid making a decision!'

'I'm not avoiding making a decision, it's easier if you tell me what you want me to wear now so I don't end up changing when you give me that look later on that asks, 'are you really going to wear _that_ shirt?'

Hermione scowled. 'I don't ever wear looks like that, you're confusing me with your sister when she's looking upon Harry's taste in clothes.'

'Fine, I'll wear that blue crushed…shirt…thing you bought me the other week, my smart jeans and my black loafers. How's that?'

'Sounds fine! See, told you I wouldn't object to what you decided.'

She turned back around to the wardrobe and began fishing for her boots.

'That's a first!'

...oooOOOooo...

'_The Flying Lion_?' Ron asked as they looked upon the muggle club. 'What kind of stupid name is that?'

'Ron, _ssshhhh_!' Hermione scolded as two muggle students made their way into the club with pissed off expressions on their faces. Apparently they'd taken offence at Ron's ridicule of their favourite club's name. He waited until they had gone inside before talking again.

'Well come on! Even-' he checked over his shoulder to make sure there were no muggles walking past them. 'Even wizard pubs have normal, names. They're not weird!'

'I think there's a few people in there who'd say 'The Three Broomsticks' is weird Ron!'

'But they're muggles!' Ron shouted far too loudly.

Hermione's head whipped from side to side, her eyes searching for said muggles.

'_Ron will you keep your voice down_! If you carry on like that I'll disown you and let the Ministry deal with you!'

'Oh relax Hermione, there's no one here!'

Suddenly two loud cracks made them jump.

'Er…oops!' A guilty looking Harry said.

'_Are you two MAD?'_ Hermione screeched at Harry and Ginny who had just appeared out of thin air in the middle of a muggle street.

'Not as mad as you are, apparently!' Harry mumbled. Ginny fell about laughing. He held up his hands in apology. 'We er…seemed to have missed the alley by a few feet,' he said trying to keep a straight face and failing, due in no small part to Ginny's hysterics.

'_A few feet_! Harry if you'd been a few more feet off target you'd have apparated inside the place on top the bar!'

Ginny stopped laughing immediately and looked thoughtfully at Harry. 'Now _that's _an idea,' she said before starting to giggle again.

Ron started to laugh. 'Harry have you been letting my little sister drink before you came out tonight?'

'_Let her_!' Ginny shrieked.

Harry took the few paces separating him and Ron and leaned into his friend.

'Mate, I think I'm more drunk than she is, and that's embarrassing! My girlfriend can handle her alcohol better than I can!'

Ron laughed louder. 'Yeah, that is pretty pathetic mate. I wouldn't tell too many people about that!'

'Don't worry,' Harry said as he tapped his nose with his finger, 'Lightweight's the word!'

'I thought you lot were supposed to stay hidden from us muggles!'

The four of them spun around, Harry wobbled slightly then regained his balance. Ron sniggered at him. Hermione sighed in relief as she recognised the person who was walking towards them.

'Rachel! Thank God it's you!' she turned towards Harry and Ginny and glared at them. '_I told you_!' she hissed at them.

Harry and Ginny looked at each other, and were very confused.

'What did she tell us?' Harry mumbled at Ginny.

'I have no idea!'

They looked at each other and burst out laughing, holding onto the other for support.

Hermione, Ron and Rachel gave them a strange look before carrying on their conversation.

'So you found the place alright then?' Rachel asked with a smile.

'Yeah we did.'

'How many more are we waiting for?' Rachel asked, this time with a twinkle in her eye.

Hermione noticed it and the sly smile that followed it. 'You mean how many single wizards are coming?'

Rachel blushed slightly but held her head high. 'Yes, that's exactly what I mean!'

There was a series of loud cracks from the alley down the side of the club, and then suddenly there was a delayed one. Rachel jumped at the sounds but Ron and Hermione simply looked interested as to who had arrived and was about to walk out of the alley.

'I think we're about to find out!'

Out from the alleyway first was Marcus.

'Hermione!' he called as he strode over to her and gave her a double kiss on the cheek. 'Ginny!' he then exclaimed and did the same to her. Ginny started giggling. 'Harry!' he stepped towards Harry but Harry was pretty sharp to move out of the way.

'Hey! You can stop that! You can kiss my girlfriend, I'm not the jealous type, but I fear for my own safety if she sees you kissing me! Yours too for that matter,' he leaned towards Marcus and comically 'whispered', 'She's got a bit of a temper that one, I wouldn't aggravate it!'

Marcus winked at him and gave him a thumbs up.

'I'll see you later then, when she's not around!'

The group fell about laughing.

'Rachel this is Marcus, Marcus this is my cousin Rachel.'

'Ahh! A member of the child prodigy's family! This could be interesting!'

'I apologise in advance for any inappropriate behaviour that Marcus might perform during the night!' Hermione said whilst looking resolutely at Rachel.

'Steady on Hermione! I've only just met the girl and you're talking about 'performance' already!'

Ginny and Harry roared with laughter, even Ron managed to smile. He seemed to make up his mind about something and when Hermione had started introducing the rest of the people who had arrived to her cousin, he stepped closer to Marcus and guided him away from the group with a friendly hand on his arm.

'Marcus, can I have a word please?'

'Yeah, of course.'

Ron smiled. 'Nothing, I just wanted to say thanks for looking after Hermione this morning. She needed someone to get her home and you did that. So…thanks.'

Marcus smiled at Ron. 'That's alright mate, as you said, she needed someone and I just happened to be there.'

'Yeah, well, thanks.'

They both looked on as the group chatted and Hermione introduced Cai to Rachel.

Without realising, Ron frowned. Marcus noticed and decided to test the boundaries of this very new friendship.

'I know he tries to hide it, but, it's blatantly obvious he…likes her, isn't it?'

Ron looked at Marcus wide eyed, concerned that he had just said the exact thing Ron had been thinking.

'Er…yeah it is.'

'He's a good guy though, he is. He knows he crossed a line and he isn't going to again. He values her friendship too much to jeopardise it with something inappropriate.'

'Yeah, but he still crossed it, he knew he shouldn't have but he did,' Ron said

Marcus looked sideways at Ron's profile. 'Ron, I know we don't know each other very well, but I think it's fair to say that every single person in the world steps across lines we shouldn't now and again. If we didn't, we couldn't make mistakes and learn from them.'

Ron looked uncomfortably at the floor. Marcus continued.

'I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound patronising, after everything you've been through I shouldn't be the one giving you advice about life, but I'm just trying to defend my best mate. He's a good one, he has his faults, but he's a good one.'

Ron narrowed his eyes as he looked at the group in front of him.

'He's your best mate?' he asked Marcus without looking at him.

'Yeah, he is.'

'You weren't in Gryffindor though, were you? I think I'd have remembered your sense of humour in the common room!'

Marcus laughed. 'No, I was in Ravenclaw; we used to smuggle Cai in when we needed to. Whether we actually needed to smuggle him in depended on our portrait; it was this old toothless wizard who was an alcoholic. If he'd been drinking he'd let almost anyone in, regardless of house.'

'How often was he drunk?' Ron asked with a smirk on his face.

'About twenty-three hours of the day!'

'Wow! That's quite impressive!'

'I thought so!'

Marcus looked at the group ahead of them. 'Looks like we're moving,' he said, gesturing to the group who had started walking towards the entrance of the club.

'And so starts the experience I will probably never forget!' Ron said with a slightly apprehensive look on his face.

'Yep, I'm sure you will.'

'Do you think there's any chance Cairo will fall madly in love with Rachel and forget about Hermione?'

Marcus laughed. 'It's a possibility. But there's one thing that might prevent that from happening.'

'What's that?'

'Her falling madly in love with me instead! To put it bluntly, she's gorgeous, and until she states an interest in him she's fair game!'

'But you're best-'

'Best mates?' Marcus said, finishing Ron's sentence for him. 'Yeah we are, but all's fair in love and war mate, all's fair in love and war!'

Ron smiled at Marcus, who jogged to catch up with Rachel and Hermione as they entered the club.

Ron followed. He shuddered slightly, the word 'war' did that to him sometimes, especially when he remembered how Hermione had been that morning, and he hated that saying; there was definitely nothing fair about war, or love for that matter.

He was about to walk into the club when something moved towards him from his right.

'Oi! Weasley! Thought you'd go in there without me, did ya?'

Ron smiled as Seamus came into view from the shadows.

'You know Seamus, you shouldn't lurk around in shadows, people'll think you're up to no good!'

Seamus managed a half-smile, but his heart wasn't in it.

'You decided to come then?' Ron asked.

'Yeah, thought I might as well. I was planning on drowning me sorrows tonight anyway, so I thought I'd do it with me mate to get a better conversation! Might make meself feel better too, although I doubt it.'

'_Are_ you feeling any better?'

Seamus looked at Ron with eyebrows raised.

'You're as bad as me mam, and as I told her, I'm far too sober to answer a question like that, buy me a pint of whatever crap they're sellin' in there and I might go into it. No promises though.'

'Deal.'

Ron stepped over the threshold of the club and was surprised to see people digging around in pockets for money.

'Surely there's not a bar this close to the door!'

Seamus stifled a laugh at his friend's comment.

'Nah, they're paying to get in.'

Ron's eyes widened. '_You have to pay to get in_?'

Ron thought he heard Hermione sigh in front of him before she mumbled something to whoever was next to her.

'Ron I'm paying for you!' she called over her shoulder. She knew what his next sentence would be and pre-empted it. 'Don't worry, you're buying the first few rounds,' she said with a grin on her face.

He winked at her and smiled. He had no idea why but she always seemed to blush when he winked at her, and tonight was no different.

'She's a good one that one,' Seamus said with a regretful tone. 'Don't fuck things up with her, will you?'

Ron looked at Seamus. 'I won't mate.'

'Good, now lets go drown my sorrows!'


	15. Chapter 15 Defying and Dancing

**Heh! Finally. This one took some writing and I have no idea why, but once I'd got into the last bit I just couldn't seem to stop! Ah well. After this, things start to wind up a bit, lot more tension, lot more jealousy etc :D**

**Please let me know what you think :D**

**Step ;)**

Chapter 15

'Eugh!' Ron exclaimed after he had downed half of his pint of Carling. 'How do they drink this stuff?' He ended his sentence with a shudder.

'When it's as cheap as this mate, they don't care what it tastes like!' Seamus replied. 'So who the hell are all these people I'm supposed to remember from school?' He gestured vaguely in the direction of the dance floor where most of the group were dancing.

'Well…' Ron started before squinting in the way of the dance floor, he couldn't really see properly in the dark club, so he had to resort to remembering the very brief introductions Hermione made in a rush earlier. 'Well you met Hermione's cousin Rachel, and her friends are…Samantha, or Sam as she demands you call her, slightly scary that one, and the lads she brought are…crap…er…' he screwed his eyes up in concentration, '_Dan_! That's one of the names and the other was…Simon, don't ask me which is which though, I have no idea!'

'Who's the drop dead gorgeous one who's not wearing a lot?'

Ron laughed. 'Ah, that would be Xante!'

'_Xante_? What the hell kind of name is that?'

'It is the type of name given to a spoilt little princess!'

'She can't have gone to er…' he realised he was surrounded by muggles who could more than likely hear him. 'She can't have gone to our school though? I think I'd remember her if she did!'

'Apparently mummy and daddy decided to send her to France for her last few years at school.'

'Beauxbatons?' Seamus asked quietly.

'Of course!' Ron replied.

'Right, who else is there? I know Colin of course, everyone knows Colin, but who are the rest?'

'Well, there's Marcus, he's all right, and then there's Jahaan, or J, he's not arsed which you calm him, and the one who's constantly eyeing up my girlfriend is Cairo.'

'Cairo? As in Egypt?'

'Yep.'

'And you think he's eyeing up Hermione?'

'I don't _think_ he is, I _know_ he is! He kissed her a few months back.'

'He did?'

'Yep.'

'What she do?'

'She er…well, I was unconscious at the time so she went to see me in hospital. Told me everything apparently. She said she felt really bad about the whole thing and told me again a few days after I woke up.'

'So she doesn't like him then.'

'He's her friend, they put it behind them and moved on.'

'Except he didn't if what you're sayin' is true.'

'Precisely.'

'Are you alright with it?'

'I suppose.'

'You're a lousy liar Weasley!'

'Yeah well.'

'So, who's the tall dark girl flirting with Potter?'

Ron smiled. 'That would be Sophie. I fear for her safety if she keeps that up. Ginny is quite protective of Saviour Boy.'

Seamus snorted into his drink and started to choke on his inhaled beer. Ron slapped him on the back and he stopped coughing.

'Saviour Boy?' he spluttered.

'Yeah, Hermione came up with it for him. Seems to have stuck.'

'Well, if Saviour Boy doesn't mind I might try a bit of flirting with the woman in danger myself! You're supposed to get right back on a broom if you fall off aren't you? Well, here I go!'

…oooOOOooo…

'Hey big bro! Why aren't you dancing? Hermione said you were being an arse and didn't want to!' Ginny asked Ron who was stood at the edge of the dance floor observing the scene before him.

Ron scowled. 'She did, did she?'

'Well, I added the 'being an arse' part, but she said you wouldn't dance with her. Why not?'

'I don't dance.'

'That's a lie! You danced on her birthday, you danced at Christmas and you danced beautifully with Harry on New Year's Eve so you can't say you don't dance!'

'Why aren't you dancing if it's so fantastic?'

''Cause Hermione's upset that you aren't dancing, even though you wouldn't know it to look at her, and I don't like her upset. That's why I'm here trying to persuade you to do it.'

'She's having enough fun dancing with Cairo!' he said bitterly.

Ginny sighed. 'If you've been watching her for as long as I think you have then you'll have also watched her dance with Marcus, Colin, Harry, Seth and Seamus so I have no idea what you're formulating in that mind of yours, but I can tell it's not good!'

'I swear if he lands one finger on her I'll-'

'You'll what? Go over there fists flying and kick the shit out of him? Need I remind you that would get most of us throw out of here and ruin everyone's night? Great plan Ron!'

'She's _my_ girlfriend, he has no right to touch her!'

'Merlin Ron, if it's bothering you that much, go over there _and dance with_ your_ girlfriend_, it'll make her night and it'll give Cairo the message. Use your brain for once!'

'This coming from the girl who nearly elbowed Sophie in the head earlier for flirting with Harry?'

'I did not nearly elbow her in the head! I was just…dancing and I happened to get a bit close!' She grinned evilly. 'Did the trick though! Go and do the same thing! Go and dance with Hermione and make her happy. Cairo'll back off, although I _know_ he's not going to do anything. He's not that stupid.'

'Fine. If it'll shut you up then I'll go and dance!'

Ginny beamed. 'Finally, now finish your beer.'

'Why can't I take it with me?'

'No drinks on the dance floor, health hazard.'

'Oh, right.' Ron mumbled before downing his drink. He had to shudder at the taste.

He went to walk forwards onto the dance floor but Ginny grabbed his arm holding him back.

'What now?'

'She loves _you_, go and show her you love her as much.'

Ron didn't say anything, he just nodded and walked through the crowd of people as carefully and gracefully as possible. He reached Hermione who was still dancing with Cairo and spun her round. It took her a second to focus on him, a mixture of the alcohol she had drunk and the spinning. She beamed when she saw it was Ron.

'May I have this dance?' he shouted above the din of the music.

'Of course!' she replied before wrapping her arms around his neck.

He pulled her to him and nuzzled her neck. He took a quick glance at Cairo who had moved towards the other people in the group once Ron had arrived.

That's right Cairo, he thought, _she's mine_.

He pulled back from the hug and planted a deep kiss on her lips. He heard her moan into his mouth and he smiled.

…oooOOOooo…

They all staggered out of the club at half past two, apparently they had been told to leave at around five past, but they had all been laughing and talking far too loudly to hear anyone else but themselves.

'Food! Marcus shouted from next to Rachel.

'Food?' Hermione asked, eyebrows raised.

'Food!' Ron replied.

'You and your bloody stomach!' Hermione teased, poking Ron in the ribs and making him jump. This sudden attack caused him to start tickling her; they broke off from the rest of the group whist the 'struggle' went on, unnoticed by the rest. Several more cries of 'food' followed but no one seemed to know what to do about it.

'We have food!' Harry shouted.

'Where?' Seth asked.

'At home! Why don't…why don't we go and eat there? It's a h…helluva lot warmer than here!' he slurred.

'Where d'you live?' Xante shouted from the middle of the group.

'We…we live…'

'_Harry_! Shut up a minute!' Hermione screeched from the middle of the road. Apparently her and Ron hadn't realised they had moved into the empty street whilst trying to tickle each other. This didn't, however, stop Hermione listening to the conversation the group was having. 'Rachel, where are your friends.'

'Oh! They left about twenty minutes ago!'

'Oh, well in which case, carry on Harry!'

'What?' Harry asked, having forgotten what he was saying.

'Oh never mind! Everyone can come back to ours if you want, apparently there's food!'

A series of cries of 'Nice one!' 'Yes!' and 'Food!' went around the group and then without checking whether the coast was clear, Harry and Ginny apparated home ahead of the rest of the group.

Ron and Hermione watched as people disapparated and waited until everyone in front of them had gone.

'I don't think everyone was in that group then,' Hermione said to Ron. 'Sophia wasn't there and neither was Seamus?'

Ron turned looked around and then looked back at Hermione, a puzzled look on his face. He then glanced across to the alleyway next to the club and double took as he saw a hand grab the corner of the wall. Ron squinted and a sly smile appeared on his face.

'Why are you grinning like that?' Hermione asked.

'OI! SEAMUS!' Ron yelled towards the alleyway. 'We're going back to mine! You're welcome to join us if you can tear yourself away from Sophia! Whenever you're er…_finished_! You're welcome too Sophia!'

Hermione cringed. Ron roared with laughter when he saw Seamus's hand rise with a two finger salute.

'I think that's us told!' Hermione said with a laugh. She turned to where the group had been stood. 'And I think there's another two people who seem to be getting along swimmingly!' she said quietly to Ron.

Ron smiled as he looked over at where Marcus and Rachel were stood talking. 'Yeah, Marcus said he had his eye on her when we arrived.'

'Did he? I didn't hear him say that!'

'No, you were introducing Rachel to everyone and when we were talking.'

'Oh, okay.'

'Hermione, can I ask you something?'

'Yeah, of course!'

'What are we doing still stood outside in the freezing cold when we could be warm and snug at home, eating!'

Hermione laughed. 'I have no idea.' She turned back round to face Marcus and Rachel. 'Rach, are you coming back with us? You're more than welcome to, you can stay the night or one of us'll apparate you back home later, or tomorrow…whenever!'

Marcus said something to Rachel that Hermione and Ron couldn't hear and she giggled. After a few seconds she composed herself.

'Yeah, that would be great.'

'Well if Marcus doesn't mind I'm sure he'll apparate you to ours.'

'It would be a pleasure!' Marcus replied, with a huge smile on his face.

Ron leaned into Hermione. 'If he's smart, he'll use this to his advantage!'

'What do you mean?' Hermione asked, confused.

Ron pulled her into a hug and turned round so she could peer at Marcus and Rachel over his shoulder.

'Merlin you're tall!' She whispered.

Ron tutted, grabbed her waist and lifted her up onto her tiptoes so she could see better.

'Right, I'm guessing he's stepped in towards her and is probably suggesting they stay close together seeing as though it's' he chuckled 'her first time!'

Hermione giggled. 'Well they're a lot closer than they were.'

'Okay, now he's probably telling her to put her arms around him so she doesn't fall over when they reappear, and he'll probably suggest that he put his arms around her, if she doesn't mind of course!'

'Yeah right, as if he's-' she stopped as she saw Rachel slowly wrap her arms around Marcus's waist. She saw Rachel shake her head slightly and then Marcus did the same.

'Rachel! Please tell me you know he's only doing this as an excuse to grope you! You're an intelligent girl!'

'_You're_ an intelligent girl, doesn't stop you from complying when you know _I'm_ trying it on!'

Hermione laughed. 'True, true. Oh come on, let's go. I don't think I can watch anymore of this!'

'Do you want me to apparate us home?' Ron asked as he carefully lowered Hermione to the floor.

'Why thank you kind sir! Would you like me to wrap my arms around you in case I fall over from the shock of the experience?'

'I think that's a brilliant idea. And I think – if you don't mind of course – that I should put mine around you just to make sure!'

'I suppose that would be fine! Now take me home!'

…oooOOOooo…

They arrived in the lounge, almost on top of Harry and Ginny, who had taken root on the sofa and were entwined.

'Lovely!' Ron said loudly in there direction.

Neither of them registered Ron's comment, so Ron led Hermione out of the lounge into the kitchen.

From somewhere there had appeared pizzas, chips, the odd kebab (Hermione found it hard not to gag), and a few burgers, and the kitchen table – and some of the floor – was covered with it all. Ron leaned to the centre of the table and grabbed two slices of pizza and a large handful of chips. The people sat around didn't seem to notice, except Colin, who winked at Ron as he was leaning back from the table.

Ron turned to Hermione. 'Did Colin just wink at me?' he asked her.

Hermione laughed. 'I think he did! I _love_ Colin drunk, it's unbelievably funny!'

She took a few chips from Ron.

'Pizza?' he asked through a mouthful he had just taken.

'Er…no thanks, you have it.'

'Thanks!' he mumbled through another mouthful.

Hermione laughed at Ron's lack of manners. She looked around at the room and smiled when she saw everyone was laughing, smiling and talking happily in their small groups. She leant her head against Ron's chest and sighed contently. Her contentment was short lived as Ron suddenly moved away from Hermione and she lost her balance. Apparently he had been offered a drink and had moved to take it, temporarily forgetting that Hermione was leaning on him. Normally Hermione would have had no problem regaining her balance, but after a few drinks she didn't do it so easily.

Luckily someone caught her from behind.

'Woah! Careful Hermione, you'll end up on the floor if you're not careful!'

Hermione waited until she was sure she was steady before turning round and looking at her saviour. It was Cai.

'Thank you Cai.'

She whipped her head round and glared at the back of Ron's head, not that he noticed, he was far too engaged in the very animated conversation he was having with Marcus, who had offered him the drink in the first place.

'Did you er…did you have a good night?' Cairo asked.

Hermione turned back to look at him. 'Yeah I did, it was a great way to celebrate how well we did in that project.'

Cairo went silent for a few seconds.

'I er…I…'

'Cairo spit it out!'

'Sorry…I don't want you to think I abandoned you this morning, when you er…when you got upset. I was gonna stay and see if you were alright but Marcus seemed to be taking care of you and I didn't want you to think that I was…well, you know.'

'I didn't think you abandoned me. To be honest I wasn't really thinking about anything that was going on around me. I wasn't even sure who was holding me at first and I didn't even register that you weren't there…' she frowned, 'hang on, that didn't come out right!'

Cai chuckled. 'It's all right, I know what you mean. I didn't really want to bring it up, but I didn't want you to think I was ignoring you when you were in need more…okay that didn't make sense. Did it? I think I've drunk too much!'

Hermione laughed. 'Well if you have then I have too because I knew exactly what you meant!'

'As much as I doubt it's a good idea, do you want another drink? We…er…we found your stash of Butterbeer in the cupboard. Do you want one of them?'

'Yeah go on then, it's hardly strong is it?'

'Er…well it might not have been, but I'm sure I saw Marcus wave his wand over them so…really I have no idea.'

'_Marcus_!' Hermione shouted. 'What have you done to our Butterbeers?'

'Nothing!' Marcus replied, but the smile on his face disagreed with his answer. 'Much,' he muttered into his glass.

Ron grinned at him and started to laugh. His smiled slipped, however, when he saw that Hermione had just burst into laughter at something Cairo had said. He watched as Cai moved aside to let Hermione walk to the drinks before him, and he physically tensed when he watched him put a supportive hand on her lower back as she wobbled slightly.

He let out a growl of frustration.

He almost set off to walk over to him and tell him exactly what he thought of him, but he felt a hand take hold of his forearm as he was about to take a step.

'Ron! I need to ask you something,' Marcus said, without releasing his grip on Ron's arm.

'Can't it wait?' Ron asked impatiently.

'No, it can't,' Marcus replied purposely and slowly.

Ron looked Marcus in the eye and instantly knew from the look he got back that he was not going to be allowed to follow Cairo and Hermione.

Marcus stepped closer to Ron and bowed his head.

'I swear to you he won't do anything,' he said quietly. 'I know him. He won't.'

Ron glared at Marcus and decided to let it go. After all, he trusted Hermione, didn't he?

Marcus took has arm of Ron's and stepped back from him.

'So, you had a question?' Ron asked gruffly.

'Yeah, I did.'

'Well?'

'How do you rate my chances with Rachel?'

'Well if the fact that she's peering round the door, gazing at you from afar is anything to go by, I'd say pretty damn good!'

Marcus turned round and looked at Rachel, she blushed and Marcus turned back to Ron. '_Fantastic_!'

Marcus turned and walked over to Rachel.

'Yeah it is,' Ron said to himself. He looked down at the floor and felt his stomach squirming slightly. 'Absolutely fantastic.'


	16. Chapter 16 Harsh Awakenings, Harsh Words

**Oh I am _so_ looking forward to writing the next chapter! lol Bit of a mix in this one, and a character I haven't written before, so it was fun! Please let me know what you think :D**

**Step :)**

Chapter 16

She had no idea where the ringing was coming from but she knew it was hurting her head. It stopped for a second and then started again in full force. She groaned in pain and opened her eyes the smallest amount possible.

After she had worked out that the ringing vibrating her brain was coming from the front door bell, she jammed her eyes shut again, sat up and pulled the quilt off her. She stumbled towards the door and pulled it open, then somehow managed to make her way down the stairs without falling down them, although she did trip over Colin, who was sprawled unconscious on the floor at the foot of the stairs.

Before they had gone to bed last night they had – foolishly – offered their house to anyone who was either too drunk to apparate home properly or who simply couldn't be bothered. A quick glance in the kitchen told her some of their friends had taken them up on the offer, although she didn't understand why some of them had chosen to use the kitchen table as a bed.

The doorbell gave another loud ring.

'Alright, alright, I'm coming!' she mumbled to no one in particular.

She reached the door and turned the metal lock holding the door in place, she put it on the latch and pulled. Unfortunately for Hermione she had forgotten there was four more locks on the door and her hand slipped off the handle and her weight took her backwards into the wall.

'SHIT!' she shouted as her head throbbed at the sudden and harsh motion.

'Hermione Granger, I'm shocked and disappointed at your language!'

She frowned and tried to figure out which one of the twins had just pretended to be 'disappointed' with her.

'Which one of you is it?' she snapped.

'Fred, I do believe we have just been insulted,' George said to his brother on the other side of the door.

'I do too George,' Fred replied. 'Hermione, our disappointment in you has just doubled.'

'Yes well, so has my lack of tolerance! If you want to get in here, you'll have to apparate, I can't be bothered finding the key to open the door! In fact why didn't you do that in the first place instead of getting me out of bed at-'

The twins appeared either side of her.

'What the hell is the time anyway?' she continued, still grumpy.

'Half eight,' George replied.

'For your sake, please tell me you're joking!'

'Perfectly serious Hermione, thought we'd be able to get some people interested in some hang-over cure and pain relief before we went to work.'

Hermione screwed up her eyes. 'Do you mean to tell me you woke me up at some ridiculously early hour because _you_ wanted to make some extra money?'

'I'd say that sounds exactly right, wouldn't you Fred?'

'Exactly right George.'

Hermione opened her eyes and glared at the twins.

'Does your expression and grumpy mood mean you would like a bottle of out precious hangover cure Hermione?' Fred pulled a small bottle out of his robes and waved it in front of Hermione's face. 'They normally retail at five galleons, but for you we'll make it four!'

Hermione's eyes widened. 'Four! You'll give it me for free unless you want your mother to find out what you did to Ron's backside on New Year's Eve!'

Fred's smile vanished and was replaced by a frown.

'You wouldn't,' he replied.

'Can I remind you of the time and the fact that I went to bed all of four and a half hours ago? Do you really want to take the risk?'

Fred and George looked at each other, George nodded an inch at Fred and he handed the bottle out for Hermione to take.

She took the bottle and necked the potion. A sigh of relief escaped her and for the first time that morning she smiled.

'Better?' George asked, a hint of bitterness in his question.

'Much! Thank you for your generosity!' she said with a smile. 'I suggest you try the kitchen if you want to make any money, oh and Colin's at the bottom of the stairs, if there was a sure bet that someone would buy some, he'd be it.'

'Thanks for the tip,' George said, still grumbling slightly.

The twins turned and walked through to the kitchen. Hermione made her way back upstairs and into the bedroom. She quietly shut the door behind her and leant against it as she watched Ron sleep.

She watched as he rolled over in his sleep and put his arm around where she should have been. When it landed on the bed he subconsciously reached further away from him trying to find Hermione. When he didn't find her he woke up and lifted his head off the pillow, trying to focus on the pillow in front of him.

'Morning!' she said with a smile.

'Mornin'' he replied with half closed eyes. 'Why're you all the way over there?'

'I had to let the twins in, apparently they thought our night out last night would give them ample opportunity to make money,' she said as she made her way over to the bed and buried herself under the covers. Ron wrapped his arm around her. 'I managed to blackmail them into giving me a bottle of their hangover cure for free!' she said with a grin.

Ron opened his eyes properly for the first time. 'They gave you one for free? After what they made me do on New Years?'

'Need I remind you Ron that they didn't _make_ you do anything? But it was that and the threat of telling your mother what they had done to your rear end that got me the potion!'

'Do you reckon they'll give _me_ some for free?'

'I have no idea, but there's only one way to find out! And you'd better be quick, there are a few people downstairs who might relieve them of their stock pretty quickly without hesitating to give them the five galleons they are asking. So I'd get down there if you want some.'

Ron sighed. Hermione smirked and rolled onto her back.

'Hermione…' Ron said in the whiney voice he used when he wanted something.

'No!' she replied before giving him the chance to finish his sentence.

He sighed again and sat up. He clambered out of bed and stumbled towards the door – much like Hermione had done fifteen minutes earlier.

'Er Ron.'

'Yeah?' he replied.

'Jeans!'

Ron looked confused and then looked down at himself. He was only wearing his boxers, something the twins would more than likely point out to him if he went downstairs wearing them and them alone.

'Oh, right.'

He pulled his jeans on, almost falling through lack of balance, and left the room.

Hermione snuggled herself back under the covers and closed her eyes. The potion had taken her tiredness away but under the warm quilt she felt very calm and relaxed. She shut her eyes and breathed in deeply, she was about to breathe out when a persistent tapping started against the window. She let out her breath in an aggravated sigh and her eyes snapped open. She sat up and opened the window with a flick of her wand.

She watched as the large brown owl struggled through the small window. She thought it might be a letter from the Ministry and started praying it wasn't a letter telling her they'd changed their mind about giving them the day off.

The owl landed and dropped the letter it was holding in its beak. She guessed the owl hadn't come far if it was holding the letter this way; it was just cruel to make an owl hold a letter in its beak for a long journey. She didn't recognise the slanted writing on the front of the letter and neither did she recognise the imprint in the wax seal on the back. The owl took off and hooted in an annoyed way as it struggled through the window.

She cracked the seal and pulled out the letter. On first glance she guessed it was succinct and to the point as there were only three lines of text and a signature.

She read the letter to herself.

_Meet me behind the Hog's Head; we need to talk – Malfoy insisted._

_I'll only be here until nine o'clock._

_Come alone._

_Zabini._

Hermione frowned and read the letter a further three times.

'_Zabini_? _Malfoy_?' she exclaimed aloud. 'What in Merlin's name…'

Footsteps thundered up the stairs and she jumped, shoving the letter and envelope under the quilt. Whoever it was went into the bathroom and she pulled the letter back out from it's hiding place.

She scanned the letter, trying to find any hidden meanings in the words, but she failed. The letter was too the point and spelled out Zabini's wishes to the letter.

She took a deep breath and stood up. She walked over to her desk and placed the letter on top of a stack of her training notes. She stared at the letter for a minute, deciding whether or not to do as she was asked. What on earth could Zabini want? And how the hell was Malfoy involved? These thoughts ran through her brain along with many others. Should she tell Ron? Should she go alone? If she was going to, she had less than ten minutes to get ready and go, but that was if she decided to go.

Before she knew what she was doing she started to dress herself ready for her outing. She pulled on her jeans, a top and her comfy hooded fleece and pulled on her trainers. She was about to turn and leave the room when her gaze fell once again on the letter. Once again questions filled her brain. Should she tell Ron she was going – she realised she had already decided she _was_ going – or should she just see what Zabini had to say before telling him?

She sighed in frustration at her lack of ability to make a decision. She made her way downstairs after pocketing her wand and stuffing a bit of money in her other pocket.

She walked into the lounge and saw Ron, Fred and George laughing and joking at the kitchen table. There was no one else in sight but there were plenty of empty bottles on the table and a large bag, which Hermione presumed was the twins' morning profit.

Ron looked up at Hermione and frowned. 'Going somewhere?' he asked her.

'Er…yeah, we need a few things,' she heard herself saying.

She mentally scolded herself, it was true that she wasn't lying, they did need a few things, and she could pick them up after she had spoken to Zabini. She hated the fact that she couldn't tell him where she was going, but she couldn't, he would get angry and shout and they would argue, she really didn't want that. Then again, would he be angry? She shook her head and brought her thoughts back to the kitchen.

'Do you want anything?' she asked Ron.

'Er…no, just don't be out too long, it looks like it might snow.'

She smiled at his concern. Would he really be angry with her? She would find out later when she came back and told him.

'See you in a bit,' she said quietly. Something in her voice must have given her current mood away because as she turned on the spot to apparate she saw a look of concern cross Ron's face.

She appeared in Hogsmeade just a little further down the road than the Hog's Head was. She took her wand out of her pocket and then shivered violently.

'Merlin Hermione! _You do own a travelling cloak_!' she said out loud as she wrapped her arms around her and pulled her hood over her head.

She cautiously walked down the alleyway separating the pub and the shop next to it. As she turned the corner she held her wand out in front of her. Zabini was leant against the pub and turned to look at her when she appeared.

'Cutting it a little close aren't you Granger?' he sneered.

'Well I only got your owl,' she looked at her watch, 'eleven minutes ago Zabini, I think I've done quite well getting here with a few minutes to spare!'

Zabini's smirk grew wider and he turned towards her. She automatically stiffened and her wand arm raised a few inches.

'There'll be no need for that Granger; frankly I haven't got time to enter into duels with you. I'm only here to deliver a message to you from Malfoy.'

'Malfoy?' Hermione replied, confused. Surely part of starting a new life was cutting all ties with your old one?

'Yes, Malfoy. I'm the only person he's still in contact with. He didn't want to lose all contact with his former life, but he's still cautious; we only owl once every fortnight. That's how he found out about Flint's altercation with your beloved Weasley.'

'I suppose you made Ron out to be the one in the wrong did you?' Hermione snapped.

Zabini sighed in frustration. 'Actually I told him exactly how it was. As a matter of interest do _you_ know exactly how it was or do I have to fill you in? Surely Weasley didn't keep you in the dark about this?'

'For your information Zabini, I know exactly what happened, I saw it first hand from Ron's memory.'

'Well, that'll save me some time then. I told Malfoy that Flint was being a complete prick and trying to start a fight with Weasley, which is what happened. I also told Malfoy what Flint said you'd…what he said about you. Apparently this sent Malfoy into a little hissy fit and in his next owl he demanded I tell you that he said no such thing to Flint and that he had made the whole thing up. He actually sent me a howler, I've only seen – _heard_ him that irate a few times before. I think he took the whole thing as a personal insult.'

He stopped and looked at Hermione, she was staring at the ground. Zabini continued.

'I also wanted to tell – well actually you should know this if you saw the memory – but I tried to stay out of the whole thing. I sat at the bar and drank my drink. I only moved when Goyle was going to try and attack an Auror. I don't condone what either of them did, spreading lies about women, especially lies like that, isn't something I tolerate, neither does Malfoy. Yes he may have called you a Mudblood on occasion, but there's lines not even us stuck up Purebloods cross, and that's one of them.'

Despite herself, Hermione smirked.

'Well,' she started, 'thank you for telling me. I must admit the thought that it was Malfoy did cross my mind and that annoyed me because of what we'd done for him. I thought he'd changed, and that would suggest he hadn't one bit. But if he says it wasn't him, then I believe him and you, and, again, thank you for telling me.'

'You're welcome.'

Zabini looked at the watch on his wrist.

'Well, fun as this has been Granger, I have to leave, some of us have got a job to get to, we don't all have days off like the trainee Aurors!'

Hermione smiled as Zabini strolled past her.

'Thanks again,' she said to his back. He raised his left hand and waved it in a dismissive way before walking out of sight.

Hermione buried her hands in her pockets and walked into the street. She quickly made her way through the village buying a few things in different shops and then went into Honeydukes to get some of Ron's favourite chocolates. 'Cause this isn't going to look like I'm trying to sweeten him up or anything! She thought sadly.

She apparated back to the house and found the kitchen empty and, slightly surprisingly, tidy. She emptied the few food items she had bought into the cupboards and walked into the lounge with Ron's chocolate.

'You're back then,' Ron asked from the far end of the lounge.

Hermione jumped at his voice, having not seen him when she entered the room. She turned round and saw Ron was staring out of the window.

'Merlin Ron, you scared me!'

'Well there's nothing to be scared of, I'm nothing compared to the company _you_ keep.'

Hermione stared at the back of Ron's head and frowned. _What_? She thought.

'What the hell do you mean by that?' she asked.

Ron turned round and walked towards her. Hermione could see that he was angry and it was only when she saw a familiar piece of parchment in his hand that she understood why. When he was a few feet from her he threw Zabini's letter down at her feet and walked past her.

'Ron! Come here and give me the chance to explain!'

He continued to walk away from her. Hermione followed him through the kitchen and caught up with him. She took hold of his arm and he snatched it out of her grip.

'Don't touch me!' he snarled.

Hermione stopped dead at his tone and watched as he stormed up the stairs and into their bedroom. She thought about following him, but the way he had spoken to her had truly scared her. She had seen him angry, but this was different, this was worse.


	17. Chapter 17 Round in Circles

**It's like busses isn't it. You wait ages for one and then two come along at once!**

**Please let me know what you think :D**

**Step ;)**

Chapter 17

'Harry?' Hermione said quietly at his bedroom door. She pushed it open slightly and saw Harry stood looking out of his window.

'Yeah?' he asked as he turned around.

'I…could you…Okay, don't take this the wrong way but would you mind just giving Ron and me some space for a bit. We need to talk about…something.'

Harry surveyed Hermione through the top half of his glasses. 'You know…you really should have told him you were going to see Zabini.'

Hermione visibly wilted in front of him. 'Yes well hindsight is a wonderful thing Harry, but you have to make the mistake first for it to become apparent what you did wrong! Anyway if I'd tried to talk to him about it, it would have taken a hell of a lot longer than ten minutes, which is the amount of time I had to get to Hogsmeade to see him. And to be honest I don't really know why he's so annoyed, it's something I want to talk to him about.'

She had come into the room and had started walking backwards and forwards. Harry watched her and felt he had to try and defend Ron's actions.

'Hermione…you know what Ron's like, he's the biggest self-doubter in the world, and if anyone keeps stuff from him he thinks it's because you don't think he's…good enough…or…worthy enough of knowing something.'

'Harry, I've told him so many times that that's ridiculous. He knows I trust him with my life, you don't get a higher 'worth' than that in my book!'

'I know, but he doesn't see it like that.'

'Why the hell not?' she shrieked.

'I don't know Hermione. Calm down.'

She glared at him and started to pace again.

'Hermione!'

'What?' she snapped.

'Why are you pacing?' Harry asked.

'Because I'm _stressed_ Harry,' she replied.

'Well, can't you try and calm down?'

'No!'

'Why not?'

'Because when I'm stressed I read a book to find the answer to my problems, and I don't remember hearing of a book entitled 'How to deal with Ron's insecurities and jealousy' do you?'

Harry smirked. 'No, I don't think it would hit the bestseller list. Look, I'll leave you two to it, just try and remember he saw you going to see Zabini as a sort of…betrayal.'

'A _Betrayal_?'

'Yes Hermione, a betrayal. Zabini was involved in him getting in trouble with the Ministry and as much as we know Malfoy redeemed himself a bit, he still wouldn't trust any of the Slytherins we went to school with as far as he could throw them. Try and see it from his point of view.'

'You know Zabini wasn't actually involved in-'

Harry raised his eyebrows at her.

'Fine!' she said with a sigh.

Harry apparated out of the house, leaving Hermione feeling a little guilty about asking him to leave, but the last thing she wanted was for Harry to hear her and Ron arguing, because they were _definitely_ going to argue. She took a deep breath and walked towards their bedroom. She cautiously moved her hand towards the door, testing to see if it had been made imperturbable, and was pleased to see that she could grasp the handle. However, when she tried to open the door, it wouldn't move.

'Ron?' she called cautiously.

There was no reply.

'Ron, I'm really not in the mood for this. We need to talk about this…_thing_ before we get ourselves so wound up we can't think straight. Will you talk to me?'

Again she got no response.

She surprised herself by kicking the door in frustration, then her fists started pounding on the door.

After a few seconds she stopped and took a deep breath trying to calm herself down.

'Ron! If you don't open this door _right now_ I'm going to apparate right inside the bedroom. I am not going _anywhere_ until we talk about this.'

Still there was no response from Ron.

'Fine! I'm coming in, don't say I didn't warn you!'

She turned on the spot and appeared next to her bed. Ron was sat up against the headboard and was staring directly in front of him. She turned around and pulled the chair that sat under her desk across the room so she could talk to Ron sat down.

'You know, when someone doesn't open the door to you, it means they don't want to see you,' he said, his tone bitter.

'Yes well, when someone starts pounding on the door it normally means they're desperate to talk to the stubborn git inside.'

'And why would you be desperate to talk to me?'

'Because we need to talk about this. I _will not_ leave it alone until we do.'

'To be fair Hermione, there's only one thing I have to say to you.'

She looked directly into his eyes. 'And what would that be?'

'You lied to me, and then you went to see Zabini. _Zabini_ of all people, after everything him and his mates did to us, to _you_ at school and you willingly go and see him on your own without anyone to keep you safe? You know how I feel about him and…and you still went. I think that shows how little you respect me.'

'_Respect_? You're pissed off because you don't think I respect you?'

'Yes. And the fact that you lied.'

'I didn't lie.'

'Yes you did!' he said with a smirk.

'No I didn't. You asked me where I was going, and I said we needed a few things, which I got. I therefore, didn't lie.'

'_You think you're gonna get out of this on a_ TECHNICALITY?' he screamed at her. 'YOU DIDN'T TELL ME WHERE YOU WERE GOING, CALL IT LYING, CALL IT NOT TELLING ME THE TRUTH, I DON'T CARE! IT'S THE SAME DAMN THING!'

Hermione's heart was hammering in her chest, she'd seen Ron angry before, and she'd seen him this upset before, but never this much at something _she'd_ done. He was normally getting angry _for_ her, not _at_ her.

'Okay,' she said quietly, 'I admit, I should have told you, but there was a reason why I didn't.'

'Oh this should be good!' he said with a smirk.

Angry bubbled through her. 'LOOK!' she screeched. 'I KNOW YOU'RE ANGRY BUT THERE'S NO NEED TO BE RUDE!'

Before he had chance to respond she continued with her argument. 'I knew that if I told you, you wouldn't want me to go, and we'd argue – evidently I was right – and if you read the note properly you'll have seen I had all of ten minutes to go and see him and talk to him. I think I can safely say we wouldn't have been finished in ten minutes! So I went.'

'I can't believe after everything we've been through, you went alone.'

'Why? I can look after myself! Or are you saying you don't think I can?'

'All I'm saying is, there's no need to take unnecessary risks.'

'_Unnecessary risks_! This coming from the person who refuses to stop jumping in front of me when he thinks there's a hex coming my way! Do you need me to list the times you did?'

Ron frowned. 'That were totally different situations, we were fighting a war! People were trying to kill you, friends of Zabini's I might add, he could have done anything to you.'

'But he didn't, did he? And I knew he wouldn't, that's why I went, and I had my wand, he didn't even draw his. I'm fine. So, was that the only reason why you didn't want me to go.'

'_No it damn well wasn't_! You _do_ remember he was involved in that fight I got into in Hogsmeade don't you?'

'Yes, thank you Ron, I remember that he was there perfectly well. But if _you_ remember correctly you will know that he didn't involve himself in the fight in any way. He sat and ignored Flint and you during the whole thing, and only got involved when Goyle was about to attack one of the Aurors.'

'He didn't bloody well stop him though, did he?' Ron growled.

'No he didn't, but do you honestly think Flint was going to leave you alone that night? Zabini could have begged on his knees in front of him and Flint would have ignored him. He was going to provoke you into a fight regardless of what anyone did. He's just one of those people!'

Ron didn't answer Hermione's comments but was by no means finished.

'So why did you so desperately feel the need to go and see him anyway?'

'It was because Malfoy had insisted that he contact me. I had a feeling it had something to do with what Flint had said and I wanted to hear what he had to say about the whole thing. I needed to know that it wasn't him that spread those…those _malicious lies_. I just needed to know that they came from Flint's twisted mind and there only.'

'Why do you care if it was Malfoy or not?' Ron asked.

'Because believe it or not I started to trust him and I thought he'd changed-'

Ron scoffed. Hermione angered again.

'Look Ron, I know you don't believe he changed but _I do_, I saw it in him. I don't care what you think of him, I started to trust him.'

'Oh please-'

'I know it's hard for you to understand,' she continued, ignoring Ron's interrupting remark, 'you weren't there,' Ron went a dangerous shade of red, 'but he kept the promises he made to me. I don't care what you say; he is the reason you're here and standing here in front of me. I can't forget that, I _won't_ forget that. That's why I went.'

Ron didn't reply, he just stared at the quilt.

'Look Ron, I don't want to fight anymore. I'm sorry I didn't tell you where I was going, I should have, I know that now, but I'm…I'm not sorry I went, it was something I had to do, I hope you understand that.'

She looked up at Ron and he was still scowling and staring resolutely at the bed. She sighed.

'I'll leave you alone.'

She turned and walked out of the door. When it was inches from being closed she heard Ron speak.

'I just don't like being left out of things, that's all.'

She looked back into the room and locked eyes with Ron for a second before he looked away.

'I know,' she said quietly, before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

Ron sighed and shifted his weight so he could lie back on the bed. He had found out about Hermione's 'betrayal' a few minutes after she left. He'd barged into Harry's room and started shouting at his best friend before Harry had even opened his eyes.

Harry hadn't managed to calm Ron down. Even though a part of his brain knew Harry was partly making sense, he still stormed downstairs and sat in the lounge smouldering, waiting for Hermione to get back.

As he stared at the ceiling his conversation with Harry weaved through his brain.

Harry was staring at Ron, his initial attempts at calming Ron down had failed miserably, but he refused to give up yet.

'I couldn't do what you asked me,' Harry said quietly.

'What?' Ron snapped.

'I couldn't do what you asked me, that night before the final battle. You asked me to make sure she was happy if anything happened to you. I…I couldn't do it.'

Ron looked at him and then looked at the floor.

'What do you mean?' he asked, in a slightly more polite tone than he had before.

'Well, you asked me to comfort her when she was sad and to make her happy. Well, when you were unconscious she wasn't and I couldn't. She'd break down and cry and all I could do was hold her and tell her everything would be alright. That doesn't help people like Hermione, who can reel off a number of logical reasons why things might not be alright.'

'I'm sure you did your best.'

'Look, whatever you think about Hermione, she loves you and wouldn't do anything to hurt you.'

'Then why did she lie to me?'

'Well, why didn't you tell her what happened with you and Flint?'

'What? What's that got to do anything?

'Just answer the question...please.'

'Because I wanted to protect her.'

'Well, I think you just found your answer.'

'You think she wanted to _protect me_?' Ron shouted.

'I think she wanted to stop you from worrying unnecessarily, when there was no reason to.'

Ron glared at the ground.

'Look mate,' Harry said quietly, 'I don't want to get on anyone's side, you're both my best friends, but you need to talk to each other about this, talking to me or Ginny isn't going to help.'

'She knows I'm annoyed and why, there's nothing to talk about.'

'If you believe _that_ then there's nothing I can say to help you. Please, don't let things get out of hand. You love her, remember that.'

Of course he remembered it, he felt it every moment he was awake and most of the time when he was asleep too. He dreamed about her, and they'd been happy dreams, but recently they'd turned to nightmares. He saw her leaving him for someone else; sometimes it was Cairo, sometimes it was Malfoy and that was a thought that made him feel physically sick.

It wasn't just the dreams, it was the way she was with people, the lads on her course specifically. He knew she didn't mean anything by it, but he also knew their intentions were anything but innocent. He saw the way Cairo looked at her and he hated the fact that he got to spend the whole day with her, all day every day.

He pressed his palms to his eyes until he saw flashing lights and then grunted in frustration. He stood up and looked at himself in Hermione's full-length mirror. He needed to get out. He opened the wardrobe and took out his travelling cloak – it had started to rain heavily outside – and then pulled on his boots.

He left the room and banged down the stairs, thoughts were running through his mind, so much so he didn't see Hermione at the bottom of the stairs and nearly knocked her flying.

'Oh…sorry,' he mumbled.

'Are you going somewhere?' she asked calmly, although she felt anything but calm.

'Yeah, I dunno when I'll be back, so don't worry.'

'Oh…' she said as her heart sank.

Ron started to walk through the house to the lounge. He took the small pot of floo powder off the floor and threw some into the fireplace. Hermione had followed him in and was slightly relieved to hear him shout he name of Seamus's house into the flames.

'Be careful!' she said as he disappeared in a whirl of flame and ash.

She stared into the green flames as they turned to orange and died out, but the shapes they had burnt into her eyes stayed with her. She turned and walked into the kitchen and felt lost, she had wanted to spend the day with Ron, but apparently that wasn't going to happen. She sat down at the kitchen table and leant her chin on her crossed arms. A dry sob caught her off guard and then she felt tears burn in her eyes.

She had thought her pain was over, but now she knew it was starting again.


	18. Chapter 18 Avoidance

**And the rulers are working! Woo!**

**Well, apparently working life is taking it's toll on my writing ability and it will continue to do so untiil I get used to getting up at seven in the morning and not being able to relax until seven at night! It's all good though!**

**'Together Forever' will be updated next I swear, thanks for bearing with me with this one and TF, much appreciated.**

**Step ;)**

* * *

Chapter 18

It was two weeks after the 'Zabini Incident' as Ginny had called it and Hermione was sat at the kitchen table looking over her day's work notes. She was trying her hardest to concentrate and she had managed it for twenty minutes, well fifteen if she was honest, before her mind wandered back to Ron.

It was Wednesday evening and she was alone in the house. Harry and Ginny were at the Burrow, she had been invited to go along but she couldn't face the merriment, not whilst she felt as miserable as she did. She couldn't be bothered acting her way through the evening, so she had said – truthfully it had to be said – that she had work to do and notes to revise.

Ron was, well, she didn't really know where Ron was, and she hadn't for the last three nights running. When she had arrived home from work he hadn't been there, and Harry and Ginny didn't know where he was either. It was frustrating to say the least. Especially when he had taken to sleeping in the spare room too. It was a sad state of affairs; she hadn't seen her boyfriend in four days.

In the couple of days after their argument they had been friendly towards each other but not overtly, and a stranger looking at the two of them wouldn't believe they had been together since they were seventeen. A couple of days later and Hermione could see a light at the end of the tunnel. Ron seemed to be back to his normal cheerful self and they had cuddled up on the sofa to watch the television. Yes, Hermione had asked if she could lie on him, but at least he agreed.

The day after, however, he changed. Hermione could remember the exact moment she saw it. Harry, Ron and herself had been sat at the kitchen table eating their tea, (Ginny had been working late at the hospital) and her and Harry had been talking about work. Ron seemed to be slightly put out about this, but it was a discussion the two of them had to have and they had tried to include Ron in it as best they could, but when she looked up at him after Cairo's name had been mentioned – along with Marcus's, Colin's, Sophia's and Seth's – the spark had gone from his eyes. She gave him a smile, hoping his expression was due to him swallowing too much food, but he didn't return it.

That night they had gone to bed and were lying in the dark. They had said their goodnights and if routine was to be followed, one of them would tell the other they loved them, and the other would reply with the same words. The last few nights Hermione had instigated the exchange, but tonight she waited to see if Ron would say the words she needed to hear first. After a few minutes he had said nothing, Hermione tried her hardest to hold out for a bit longer, but she couldn't.

'Ron?' she had said quietly.

She got an incoherent grunt in reply.

'Love you,' she said.

Another grunt and he cleared his throat. 'Same.'

_Same_?

Her insides had squirmed and she had rolled over away from him. Despite her efforts to not let it get to her, a solitary tear fell from her eye and fell off the bridge of her nose.

As she remembered how she had cried herself to sleep that night, tears threatened to fall from her eyes again. She shut her eyes and took a few deep breaths, refusing to get distracted from her work anymore. She opened her eyes and stared resolutely at the words written in front of her.

She was slightly annoyed with the lack of writing she had actually managed to get done, and determinedly jabbed her quill in her ink pot and started writing again, blatantly ignoring the tears that splashed on her parchment as she wrote.

…oooOOOooo…

'Alrigh' Weasley we've been sat at this table for three hours now and yeh still haven't told me what's making ya such a miserable arse! So come on, spill!'

Ron refused to look at Seamus, so he kept on staring into his Firewhisky.

'The silent treatment isn't going to work either Ron, the sooner ya start talking the faster I stop going on atcha! It's up to you!'

Ron sighed an irritated sigh, but realised it was probably easier just to talk to Seamus, but before he could answer, Seamus decided he could do with some prompts.

'Is it you and Hermione?'

Ron finally looked up at Seamus. 'Yeah,' he mumbled.

Seamus waited for Ron to continue, when he didn't he continued with his prompts, although this time they were less subtle.

'Well? What's wrong?'

'It's…She…'

Seamus waited patiently for Ron to find his words.

'You know that Cairo…'

'The one who you think is after Hermione.'

Ron glared at Seamus. 'The one I _know_ is after Hermione. His best mate bloody well told me!'

'He actually told you?' Seamus asked in slight disbelief.

'Yes!…Well, near as damn it!'

Seamus raised his eyebrows in a disbelieving way.

'Fine, don't believe me!' Ron mumbled.

Seamus acknowledged the venom that was in the sentence, regardless of how quietly it had been said.

'Okay, so what about him? What's he done? Has he tried it on again with her?'

Ron sighed, obviously irritated.

'No, well not that I know of anyway, although it wouldn't surprise me!'

'So what is it then? What's he done?'

Ron took a deep breath but kept his gaze in his glass.

'He's just…he's…he's just _with_ her all the bloody time!'

Seamus frowned, slightly confused. 'But…aren't they in the same group at training?'

'YES!' Ron shouted at the same time as slamming his half raised glass down on the table.

'_Jesus wept_! Calm down you stupid git! You'll get us thrown out of here, and then that'll be two pubs we can't go in!'

Ron growled in frustration and slumped back into the corner of the pub, luckily the booth they had chosen wasn't well lit, so not many people had seen his outburst, although it was probable that everyone in the pub had heard it.

'Look mate, I know it must be hard knowing he's seeing her everyday but that's not Hermione's fault is it? You know that!'

'That's the point though isn't it? I know nothing! She's just…eugh!'

'Have you even spoken to her about this?'

Ron mumbled something that Seamus had no hope of deciphering.

'For fuck's sake Weasley you're not that drunk!'

Ron took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

'I haven't spoken to her in…in a few days.'

Seamus's eyes widened slightly in disbelief.

'Shit!' he mumbled. 'What did I say to yeh the other week Ron? I told you not to fuck things up with her and what are you doing? Exactly that! She's not with Cairo, she's with _you_!'

'Why the hell are you defending her? I'd have thought you'd be the last person to defend women after what Laura did to you!'

Seamus breathed deeply. It still made his stomach twinge when he thought about Laura betraying him with…whoever the hell it was.

'Yeah, thanks for reminding about that, _mate_! Are yeh saying you think Hermione is the same as Laura?'

'No! Yes! I…I dunno.'

'Oh mate, you are really messed up aren't you?'

'Cheers!' Ron mumbled before downing his drink.

'Look, you sitting here being a moody bastard isn't going to help anyone or anything. You should go home and talk to Hermione, you're not going to sort anything out sat in a pub drinking yerself stupid are ya?'

'You did after…you know.'

'There's a slight difference between you and me, Ron. There was nothing left for me to save, my girlfriend was a cheater, end of story. You, however, have a girlfriend sat at home who still loves you and probably wants to talk this through, it's just your stubborn pride that's stopping that from happening.'

Ron glared at Seamus.

'I thought you were _my_ friend.'

Seamus gave a wry chuckle.

'If I sat here and told you everything was fine, and how you are right in everything you had just said, I wouldn't be being a friend. You _know_ that. That's why you gave me a few days to drown my sorrows then dragged me out to get on with my life.'

'Fine. Then let me do the same.'

'No.'

'_No_?'

'No.'

'What do you mean, _no_?'

'I won't let you sit here and ignore a problem which is fixable if you would just stop being a stubborn and miserable git! Get off your arse and go home!'

Seamus stood up off his chair and took hold of Ron's arm. Ron instinctively pulled it out of his grasp.

'What the hell are you doing?' he asked, shock filling his eyes.

'I'm taking you home.'

'No you're bloody well not!'

'Ron if I have to hex you and carry you out of here, I'm taking you home. So which way do you want to do this? The easy way or the way that'll more than likely get us barred from this pub too!'

Ron glared at Seamus, so Seamus glared back at him. Ron was the first to blink. His gaze shifted to the beer mat in front of him.

'What if she won't talk to me?' he mumbled.

Seamus realised Ron was trying not to cry, for the moment he was succeeding.

'You won't know unless you go.'

Ron sagged in his seat. Seamus stepped forward and put a friendly arm on his shoulder, gently pulling him forward. To his relief Ron followed his grasp.

Ron slowly stood and stumbled around the table as he felt his alcohol filled blood rush to his legs and away from his brain.

'Come on,' Seamus said quietly. 'I'll apparate you home.'

Ron shut his eyes as the familiar sensation of apparation overtook him. Luckily it stopped before he started to feel really sick. After they appeared in the kitchen he took a few deep breaths and opened his eyes.

He saw Hermione's work notes sprawled across the table, along with a half drunk mug of hot chocolate.

'She's probably in bed.'

'Don't you dare use that as an excuse not to talk to her.'

Ron looked resolutely at the floor.

'Right, I'll leave you alone. Let me know how things go.' Seamus said quietly.

'Okay.'

'Night Ron.'

He turned on the spot and disappeared from sight.

Ron sighed and slowly made his way up the stairs. When he got to the top he quietly made his way along to Hermione's - _their _– room. He turned the handle and the door opened in front of him.

He squinted in the complete darkness and when he'd fumbled in his robes for a few seconds, lit his wand. By accident he shone it directly on Hermione's face, but she didn't wake up, she just stirred.

He watched her roll over but stay on her side of the bed. He noticed she wasn't spread across his side. He didn't know why, she always used to. He went to say her name but the air caught in his throat.

He had a decision to make. He could either take a step forward and talk to Hermione, or he could take a step back and hide away.

He thought for a minute before moving.

He took the step back.

* * *

**Please review :D :D :D**


	19. Chapter 19 Another Nightmare Begins

**Well, this chapter came round faster than I thought it would. Remember months ago when I said in an authors note in 'Falling Star' that I'd written the end of the story? Well the remaining chapters are those chapters! Obviously changed to fit the slightly different story to the one I had planned but in escense is still the same! So yeah, this fic is coming to an end! Stay with it over the next few chapters, hopefully you'll think it's worth it, I like it! lol**

**Please please please please _please _let me know what you think. Cheers!**

**Step ;)**

* * *

Two days later…

Hermione walked into the kitchen after another restless night's sleep. Harry was eating his breakfast at the table and Hermione was surprised to see her breakfast already made and waiting for her.

'Morning,' Harry said in a bright tone and with a smile. But Hermione didn't see the smile reach his eyes.

'I made you breakfast…you haven't changed what you have for breakfast have you?'

Hermione managed half a smile.

'No, I haven't, thanks. How did you know when to make it for?'

'I didn't,' Harry said through a mouthful of his cereal, he swallowed before he continued. 'I don't really need to, your mug keeps your coffee the temperature you like it at, and the cereal's charmed to not go soggy. As it is I was spot on anyway, it's only been sat there thirty seconds. Good aren't I?'

'And modest with it!' Hermione replied with a smirk.

The two of them sat in silence eating their breakfast and occasionally taking sips from their coffee mugs. Every few seconds Harry glanced at Hermione, trying to gauge her mood. When he finished his cereal he took a couple of deep breaths as if about to jump into deep water, which he might just be doing.

'Hermione…'

Hermione looked up from her bowl at Harry. When he didn't continue she prompted him.

'What is it?'

'When was the last time you spoke to Ron?'

Hermione sighed.

'It's nearly a week since he spoke to me properly.'

'A _week?_' Harry exclaimed. 'Merlin, I knew things weren't great between you but I didn't realise it was that bad!'

'Yeah, it's bad. When was the last time you spoke to him?'

'A couple of nights ago. I was asleep on the sofa after watching a really bad late night film and he apparated right in front of me and woke me up. We spoke for a few minutes, then he went up to bed while I locked up the house.'

'Well you've had more out of him than I have. He stopped sleeping in our room six night ago.'

'Shit,' Harry said with a sigh. 'I'm sorry Hermione. If I'd known I-'

'You'd what? There's nothing you can do Harry, he won't talk to me and I'm guessing he won't talk to you either. Apparently the only person he can talk to is Seamus, he's the person who he's been going out with every night.'

'Seamus?' Harry asked, looking thoroughly confused.

'Yeah, on the sparse occasions I've actually seen him on his way out, his very few words have been 'Seamus' and 'pub'.'

'But I saw Seamus last night in Diagon Alley, he asked how things were between you two because he had demand Ron talk to you about what the problem was. He hasn't seen him in days!'

Hermione felt sick, not only was Ron avoiding her, he was now – apparently – lying to her as well. Her blood ran cold.

It was there and then that she made a decision. She was going to confront Ron tonight, whatever time he came home, whatever state he came home in, she would make him talk.

'Hermione, why did this start? What did you fight about that you couldn't sort out?'

Hermione smirked.

'I have no idea Harry, there was no fighting, he just…stopped talking to me.'

Harry had no reply to her answer, he just didn't know what to say.

…oooOOOooo…

Ron landed hard on the sofa and kicked his shoes off onto the floor. He sighed deeply and smirked at a memory of the night he had just experienced.

'Did you have a good night?' Hermione asked.

She had been sat in the dark for hours. She had kept her promise to herself; she would try and sort this out right here, right now.

He jerked when he heard her voice and squinted around in the darkness to see her.

'Why are you sat in the dark?' he asked, his words slurring ever so slightly.

'There was no point in putting a light on, I'm not doing anything, I'm just sat here.'

'So why are you sat there?'

'Why do you think I'm sat here at three in the morning?' she asked in a perfectly calm tone.

Ron's brow furrowed. 'If you're waiting for me, you shouldn't have bothered; I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself.'

The words hit her like a slap in the face. There was so much animosity in them, her stomach squirmed uncomfortably.

How did she come to be here? Five months ago she was the happiest person in the world. He had woken up and things were great – not quite perfect - but life never was. She had her boyfriend back, the one she loved, the one who she had thought loved her back, and now she was losing him and she didn't know why. Her resolve to sort this problem out crumbled, if he couldn't be bothered, why should she be?

'Fine. I'll go to bed then. I'll see you later, or will I? Will you be here when I get back from work?'

'I don't know. I might be meeting Seamus for a drink.'

'Yeah right,' she muttered.

The mixture of anger and sorrow mixed inside her stomach but she was determined not to cry. She was not going to break down in front of him and let him know how much he was hurting her. She got up and picked her wand off the table.

'Fine, I'll see you whenever then.' She got up and stalked towards the door.

'What's wrong with you?' he asked. She had walked through a strip of moonlight creeping in through the gap in the curtains and he had noticed her clenched jaw and a hint of red in her cheeks.

Her wand sparked in her hand, a result of the anger that surged through her body.

'_What's wrong with me_?' her hands had started shaking and it was all she could do to not shout her next sentence as loud as she could. 'I thought you were the one person who knew me almost as well as I know myself! What do you THINK is wrong with me?'

He stood up and she turned to face him.

'_I don't know_, that's why I asked!' If he hadn't been out drinking all evening and night, he probably wouldn't have asked the question. But he had, so he did.

'FINE, I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME! I DON'T SEE YOU ANYMORE, AND WE HAVEN'T SPOKEN IN A WEEK! IF I SEE YOU HERE IT'S ONLY BECAUSE YOU HAVEN'T LEFT YET TO GO AND GET PISSED OUT OF YOUR BRAIN WITH GOD KNOWS WHO, AND THE ONLY CHANCE I GET TO SEE YOU IS IF I WAIT UP UNTIL THE SMALL HOURS OF THE MORNING TO WATCH YOU PRACTICALLY FALL OUT OF THIN AIR BECAUSE YOU'RE THAT DRUNK YOU CAN'T _POSSIBLY APPARATE PROPERLY_!'

He watched her turn red as she ranted on, but she hadn't finished yet, now that she had started, she wasn't about to stop.

'_What happened Ron_? Why are things like this? A few months ago I was the happiest person in the world and you were the reason why, my nightmare was finally over. Why do I get the feeling I'm starting in another?'

She couldn't help it, a single tear rolled down her cheek. He looked at her and sighed deeply before answering her. What she had said had sobered him up slightly.'

'Maybe one has started.'

Now she really started to panic.

'What do you mean?' she snapped.

'You wouldn't understand.'

He moved to walk past her but she stood in front of him not letting him pass.

'You're not going anywhere! What do you mean I won't understand? After everything we've been through what could I possibly not understand?'

'That's exactly it! Everything _you've_ been through, you've been having a great time these past few months with Harry and Cairo and Marcus and whoever the hell else you've were getting pally with while I was unconscious and afterwards! I'm surprised you even remembered who I was and was bothered enough to visit ME IN HOSPITAL!'

Hermione was struck dumb. How could he possibly think that? How could he think that she had been enjoying herself the time he was in hospital?

'How can you think that? She asked in barely a whisper. 'You _know_ I visited you twice _every single day_. Every morning I woke up with guilt flooding through me because I blamed myself for what happened to you and I'll feel it until the _day I die_. Most days I needed some words of encouragement off Harry or Ginny to keep me going, and your mother had to practically beg me to leave your bedside and start work so I wouldn't have a _nervous breakdown_! So _don't you dare_ stand there and tell me I was having a great time when you were in hospital. Something died in me that night you were hurt, and it came back to life when you woke up, so don't you _ever_ say that again.'

She spat the last sentence barely keeping her anger under control. He stood looking at the ground, normally he would have apologised, but he saw the way _he_ looked at her and he hated it. For a long time that _bastard_ had been trying to muscle in on his girlfriend. And _she knew it_.

'Cairo looks at you like I used to when we first…'

'When we first what?' she snapped.

'When we first started going out.'

'So? Why does it matter if he does?'

Please tell me this isn't about _him_ she thought, praying to anyone who was listening.

'He likes you.'

'_And_? What's _that_ got to do with anything?'

'Do you like him?'

'Of course I like him, he's my friend.'

'You know what I mean,' he snapped impatiently. 'Do you like him more than that?'

'_NO_! And I'm extremely offended that you'd think I would! _I love you_ Ron and _you know that_!'

'DO I?'

Her anger resurfaced. She stormed past him to the cabinet in the corner of the room, unlocked it with her wand and reached inside. Her hand emerged holding a small box.

'You want to know how I feel? _I suggest you take a look in there_!' She slapped the box into his hand. He stared at it, not knowing what to think. 'And if you need reminding how you felt about me I suggest you take this as well!'

She wrenched the silver and diamond ring off her finger and slammed it down on the box. With one last glare into his eyes she turned and walked out of the room and ascended the stairs to bed. Her anger kept her awake for about ten minutes but then exhaustion took over; it was, after all, quarter to four. She fell asleep unaware that her boyfriend was sat stunned on the sofa.

…oooOOOooo…

For when Ron had opened the box he found a purple silk drawstring bag. He tipped out the contents; six rings in two sets of three, interlinked in a way that formed a solid band from the three rings. He held them so the bands were formed; one set was smaller than the other.

One of the rings was gold, the second, silver, and the third, bronze. He dropped his gaze into the box and he pulled out the piece of parchment that was sat under the bag. He unfolded it and read it.

_Three metals, Three colours, Three feelings,  
__One ring, One reason, One love.  
__  
Gold, Silver and Bronze,  
__First and Foremost  
__Second and Supporting  
__Third and There Forever_

_One ring to be with you always,  
__One reason, to keep us all true,  
__One love that grew from a friendship,  
__A love between me and you._

_Ron,_

_When you gave me my ring the night before the war ended I was so happy that I had found you and we were together. __It tore my heart in two when the next day you were taken from me, __not gone so I could mourn you, but not there that you could comfort me._

_People said they understood how I felt but I didn't believe them. I didn't think anyone would feel like I did, so I copied your beautiful idea; I put how I felt into a ring._

_When you woke I felt a joy like I had never felt before. When I went home that night I did the same thing again, wanting to treasure that feeling for eternity. Then I had to reciprocate your gesture, you had to know how I felt, so that went in a third._

_I took them to the shop where you bought my ring and had them duplicated and linked, one set for each of us. The larger one is yours and the smaller mine. Yours is complete and if you would do me the honour yet again of letting me know how you feel about me, mine will be too._

_It might seem strange that I included the ring that holds sorrow, but I did it so we are reminded how life can change in an instant and it will hopefully ensure we live life to the fullest._

_I thank you for your enchanting idea._

_Yours for eternity_

_Hermione_

_xxx_

He was stunned. There was no other way to put it. He didn't move, he couldn't.

_Merlin!_

Seamus's words rattled around his head. _She's a good one that one, don't fuck things up with her, will you?_

What had he said in reply? _I won't mate_.

'Shit!' he whispered.

He put the box, bag, Hermione's rings and her single band on the sofa next to him and examined his rings close up. '_Te Amo'_ was inscribed into the gold band; '_Felix'_ was inscribed into the bronze band; and '_Dolor_' was inscribed into the silver band. He held the silver ring between his forefinger and thumb, contemplating whether or not to say the spell that revealed the feeling inside.

Without really thinking he slipped the ring on the third finger on his right hand; the other two sat on the top of his palm. He closed his fist and muttered '_sensus salvus'_. The ring grew warm and instantly the feeling of sorrow, loss and anger engulfed him. He leant his head against his fist and couldn't stop the tears that streamed down his face. He sobbed; he had never felt so bad in his life. It wasn't just the feeling from the ring, it was the realisation that Hermione had felt like this and he had been the reason. The fact that he couldn't do anything about it, didn't cross his mind.

He kept the ring on for a few minutes more, needing to punish himself for…something…anything…being a complete git if nothing else.

'Finite,' he said eventually, and the ring grew cold. He slid it off his finger and instead held the bronze ring. He wiped his face of the tears that had fallen from his eyes. He placed the ring on the same finger and said the revealing spell.

Euphoria spread through him and he half laughed, half sobbed at what he was feeling. He took the ring off; he realised how happy she had been, hell, _he'd_ been that happy too, but it had all changed. But why?

He pictured Cairo and Hermione stood together, talking and laughing, he tried to remember any small movement she had made that showed him she was falling for him, but as much as he tried he couldn't. He had plenty of visions of Cairo being obvious about the way he felt, but every time he thought about the way Hermione had reacted, well, she hadn't. She had kept her distance but stayed polite, just as any good person would. That's what she is, he thought, a good person, and you just lost her.

Seamus's words came back to him again. _Don't fuck things up with her!_ Well he'd done that, yes, he had definitely done that, and why?

Because you're a jealous prick Weasley, _that's why!_ She went through all that shit, stuck by you, and you accuse her of _falling for someone else_. _Fucking marvellous_!

'Right!' he said aloud. 'What are you going to do about it?'

He fell silent contemplating his own question. He held the final ring and went to put it on his finger, but he stopped himself, he didn't need to wear it; he knew how she felt, and, he thought, I want to feel it for the first time when we both put these rings on together.

He put the two rings back into the bag, pulled the drawstring tight, folded the parchment and put everything back into the box. He put the box back in the cabinet and locked it with a wave of his wand. He sat Hermione's band on top of the cabinet so he didn't lose it.

He needed to speak to her now. He walked up the stairs quietly and crossed the landing to her door. He tried to knock on the door but couldn't get his hand near it. Realising she had made it imperturbable he called out her name. He got nothing in response.

'Let her sleep'.

He spun round to see Harry leaning against his doorframe.

'I need to speak to her,' Ron replied, slightly riled at Harry interference.

'And she needs to sleep. It's four o'clock; she has to be up in four hours at the latest. Whatever you need to say can wait 'til morning.'

'No it can't! She needs to know…I need to tell her…'

'Sounds like you've thought this through.'

Ron looked down at the floor.

'Look mate,' Harry continued, 'you've been drinking, you two've had a fight and you're obviously upset, and to put it bluntly I will not let you go in there and disturb her sleep. To be fair, I don't think you'll get in anyway; I think I heard her enchant the door. No one's going in or out until Hermione wakes up tomorrow. The best thing you can do is go to sleep and see her later.

'When did you become her minder?'

It wasn't anger that Harry felt, more of an annoying frustration.

'The day she refused to get out of bed because she couldn't face what had happened to you.' He pushed himself off the doorframe. 'Go to bed Ron, things'll be clearer in the morning.'

Ron looked at Harry, not knowing whether to argue back, but he knew Harry was right; Hermione wasn't going to talk to him tonight.

'Fine.'

He turned and walked through the spare bedroom door and shut it slightly harder than was needed. Harry sighed and headed back into his room, shutting the door quietly behind him, the last thing he wanted to do was to wake Ginny. He climbed back into bed carefully and tried to release a few inches of quilt from Ginny's grasp and carefully snuggled up to her.

He had heard the whole fight. He could have thumped Ron when he questioned Hermione's loyalty. Whatever she said or did worked, though, he had never seen Ron look so apologetic, or desperate; it wasn't something he enjoyed seeing.

Harry knew it was probably the alcohol that had fuelled tonight's fracas; he intended to speak to Ron about that tomorrow. _Today_, Harry thought as he mentally sighed. Ah well, at least he could get six hours sleep, a hell of a lot better than the three and a half or four Hermione would get.

Ron lay awake for another hour, trying his best to think of how to make it up to Hermione. He had the start of an idea and it would take a lot of planning, which didn't bother him at all. However, before he could form the whole plan fully in his mind, the alcohol still racing through his bloodstream sent him to sleep.


	20. Chapter 20 No Chance of Concentration

Chapter 20

Hermione's alarm clock woke her at half past eight, slightly later than normal but still with enough time to get herself ready for work. She tried to ignore the feeling constricting her breathing as she sat up; unfortunately she was well trained in ignoring feelings of sorrow, anger, frustration and loss, but the real sadness was the fact that she had – foolishly it seemed - thought this had passed, she thought she would never feel like this again.

She lifted the various charms, wards and jinxes off her door and as quietly as she could, opened it – the last thing she needed was a confrontation over breakfast. She quietly moved into the bathroom and locked the door placing a silencing charm on it preventing the noise from the shower reaching his ears. Faster than normal she emerged from the bathroom and got dressed in record time. Hair and make-up were done in minutes and she was finishing her breakfast at quarter to nine.

_That's got to be a record!_ she thought as she checked her watch before she looked through her bag, making sure she had all she needed for the day ahead.

In the room above her, Ron was stirring. He opened his eyes with a huge effort and they focused on the alarm clock, he read eight forty-five. His eyes widened as the information reached his brain. He threw the duvet off him and jumped out of bed, he thundered downstairs and as he reached the bottom looked up. He saw Hermione look at him.

Hermione rotated on the spot, her bag across her shoulder.

'Hermio-' she disappeared from sight, 'ne,' he finished. 'Shit!'

Annoyed but now even more determined to rectify the situation he ran back upstairs and hammered on Harry's bedroom door. Before Harry had chance to reply or even wake up properly Ron was stood over him, talking to him as if he was awake and listening intently. Of all the words that were being thrown at him, the only ones that reached his brain were 'favour', 'Hermione', 'special', and 'apologise'.

'Ron shut up!'

'What?'

'I have no idea what you just said, please let me wake up first.'

Ron fell silent for a few seconds.

'You awake now?' he asked.

'No, but you're gonna talk aren't you?'

'Yes. I need you to help me Harry. I need to show Hermione how sorry I am and how much she means to me.'

'Okay, why does this involve me at…' he looked at his wall clock, 'ten to nine in the morning?'

'Because I need your help to set up the house, and for you to talk to Hermione for me; I need you to get her here tonight.'

'Why won't she be here?'

'She doesn't want to see me and I don't blame her, she'll probably go to her parent's house after work.'

'Fair enough. I don't want to sound negative or anything mate but I might not be able to get her back here.'

Ron hung his head, 'Harry you have to. I know I don't deserve it, I've been a complete arse the past couple of weeks and I don't deserve to breathe the same air as her…but _please_ Harry, I have to fight for her. I can't…I can't imagine my life without her.'

Seeing his friend had come to his senses Harry knew he had turned a corner, but he had to be sure, he wouldn't let Hermione get hurt anymore. She was too good a person.

'Are you going to stop going out drinking every night?'

'Yes,' Ron replied quietly, shame creeping over him.

'Are you going to stop your jealousy ruining what you have with Hermione?'

'Yes.'

'Will you start treating her with the respect that she deserves?'

Ron sighed through his embarrassment. His situation seemed worse the more Harry went on.

'Yes.'

Harry was satisfied Ron had learnt his lesson; he decided to lighten the mood.

'Will you love, cherish and honour her for as long as you both shall live?' he said with a grin on his face. Ron didn't notice.

'I wi…what?'

'Nothing, just joking! Your face is priceless though.'

Ron recovered from the slight fright he had given himself.

'Not funny Harry.'

'I disagree.'

'So you'll help me then?'

'I will, but seriously mate, don't mess this up, she's been through enough and she deserves the best.'

'Don't worry I'm not letting her go.'

'Ok, what do you need?'

…oooOOOooo…

Hermione was sat in the dungeons at the Ministry of Magic, the morning's class – one that all three groups would have at some point during the day – was about giving evidence in a Ministry hearing. Throughout their forthcoming careers it was almost guaranteed that they would have to stand as a witness in a criminal hearing. The lesson had started three quarters of an hour ago and the people in the row in front of Hermione had lots of notes on how a Wizengamot trial proceeded.

She, however, had sat herself in the back row after everyone else had taken their seats. She hadn't written a single word about trials, hearings or being called as a witness, she had only written the date; 03/02/00, four and a half months after her twentieth birthday, and just a few days more since Ron had woken up.

She had doodled her way down her parchment. To the left of the date she had written _Another nightmare begins_. In the centre of the parchment she had written the words, _Do I love him?_ And directly underneath; _Unfortunately!_

How could he not know that? She asked herself and tears start to fall down her cheeks, landing on the bottom two inches of her parchment. Further down she had written '_te amo,' 'felix' _and_ 'dolor'_, and under that, '_I do,' 'I was,' 'I am_'.

_Why me? What have I done that deserved months and months of misery punctuated with just three months of happiness?_ Although silent, her sobs caused her body to shake. _Why am I here?_ She asked herself._ There is _no_ point._

The greying wizard now stood in the witness stand could be foretelling her entire future and still she wouldn't listen. She put her quill, ink and parchment in her bag and slid off the bench. She opened the door as quietly as she could before slipping out of the room. Only Cairo showed a look of concern on his face as he watched her leave.

At the end of her sixth year at Hogwarts Hermione had a decision to make, she was surprised at how quickly she had made it, but for someone like her it was quite a turn of character. She had decided in an instant that there was more to life than learning, books, exams and grades. Of course she had always known this, it was just that nothing of great significance had ever crossed her path before, so doing well in her studies was her only concern. However after nearly two years of living in fear and then the horrendous events of that night not that many months ago, her perspective had changed forever.

As much as she aimed to do well in anything she put her mind to, (she was a Virgo, she couldn't help it; it was the only part of astrology she believed, that Virgos were perfectionists,) she now understood work wasn't the be all and end all.

This was the reason she had just left the Ministry and apparated to her parent's house. She emerged from behind the tree without checking for nosy neighbours and unlocked the front door with a flick of her wand. She relocked the door and unset the alarm. Her sobs had subsided and the pale February sun had attempted to dry the tears off her cheeks but a new wave of tears crashed down her face as she ascended the stairs to her room. Halfway up she realised her mum would arrive back home and would panic when she realised the alarm had been reset. She went back down the stairs and rummaged in the bureau for the pad of post-it notes. She found the fluorescent yellow squares and wrote on the top one:

_Mum, it was me who switched the alarm off. Upstairs in bed, not feeling great, nothing to worry about. Hermione x_

She peeled the single sheet off and stuck it to the alarm keypad. She ascended the stairs again and went into her room. She dropped her bag on the floor, kicked off her trainers and crawled into bed fully clothed. As she feared, she couldn't switch her brain off, it refused to stop thinking about Ron's behaviour, about whether she had done anything to make him think she didn't love him anymore. _NO!_ the reasonable and stubborn half of her brain argued, _you are not taking responsibility for his jealousy._ She got herself so worked up that her sobs were no longer silent. She had sobbed like this only once before, when she was allowed to see Ron in St. Mungo's for the first time. There was scratches and bruises on his face and he looked so pale and small. The white of the bed-sheets overpowered his complexion, and amazingly his red hair.

The mascara that she had applied to her eyelashes this morning was now on her pillow along with all the tears she had cried since she crawled into bed. After a half hour of constantly thinking and questioning she decided to try her relaxation technique. She pictured her favourite colour – baby blue – and imagined herself lying on a beach, the sun beating down on her body but a slight breeze of warm air taking the edge off the hot sun.

She concentrated on nothing but feeling the breeze against her skin and filling her mind's eye with nothing but the colour blue. After a minute or so her breathing slowed and she drifted in and out of sleep, her dreams becoming her thoughts and her thoughts becoming her dreams.

…oooOOOooo…

'What do you mean, "she walked out"?' Harry demanded of Cairo. He had left his lesson at twelve and ran to the canteen expecting to see Hermione eating her lunch.

'Exactly what I said!' Cairo replied. 'She walked out halfway through first lesson.'

'Shit!'

'She was crying and she just got up, opened the door and walked out of the dungeon. I would have gone after if she…if I…'

If you'd both get over your awkwardness, thought Harry.

'Okay, thanks Cairo.'

'Aren't you late for your lesson?' Cairo asked as he looked at his watch.

'Yeah,' he answered, 'yeah I am. See you later.'

He turned and walked out of the large hall. _What the hell do I do now?_ He contemplated his options; he could go and look for her now and miss the lesson he should be in, or he could wait an hour until his lunch break. If she had gone to her parent's house (which he would put good money on) then her mum would be home around now anyway, and chances were they'd be having a mother-daughter talk.

He decided he would wait an hour and talk to her at lunch. Now he really was late for his lesson. He ran to his class and gave a quiet 'Sorry I'm late,' to his tutor and sat at the back of his class, his thoughts only of his friend.

…oooOOOooo…

Jan pulled into the driveway of her house at five past twelve. She locked the car and walked to the front door. As she unlocked and opened it she noticed a flyer on the floor and picked it up. Distracted by the writing on the luminous orange paper she didn't notice that the alarm wasn't beeping, telling her she had thirty seconds to switch it off. It was only as she was taking the final steps towards the keypad that she realised no sound was coming from it.

Concerned, she looked at the white plastic box on the wall and noticed the post it note stuck to it. She read it quickly and made her way up the stairs to Hermione's room. The door was ajar when she reached it and she slowly pushed it open.

'Hermione?'

The young witch stirred, Jan walked over to her bed and sat down on it.

'Hermione what on earth's wrong?'

Hermione turned to look at her mum, her eyes red from crying. At seeing her mum and knowing she would have to tell her what had happened she started to cry again.

'Oh Hermione, what's happened?'

Hermione said nothing but sat up and hugged her mum, hoping she could make it all better. She knew she couldn't though; it's a hard realisation when you find out your mum and dad can't fix everything, something Hermione knew all too well.

Neither of them said anything for the next few minutes, Hermione cried into her mum's shoulder and Jan stroked her daughter's hair wishing she could stop the pain she felt. When Hermione calmed down a little her mum spoke.

'Hermione tell me what's wrong, please.'

Hermione pulled away from her mum and wiped her face with her sleeve.

'It…it's Ron. He…he thinks I'm…he thinks I don't love him anymore and I've started liking this other lad on my course w…when I haven't done any…anything to make him think that.' She waited until she had calmed down slightly until she started again. 'He goes out every night drinking and I hardly see him anymore, and I just don't know what went wrong so I can't fix it! I just d…don't know what to do.'

She started crying again.

'Shh, my darling, don't cry. When did all this happen?'

'L…last night, well this morning actually,' even in her distraught state she still needed to be accurate, 'he came in at three and I'd stayed up to try and talk to him, I didn't say what I wanted to though and we ended up fighting and then he accused me of having feelings for Cairo.'

'The boy from work?'

'Yes.'

'How did you leave things?'

'I er…I left him with the box containing those rings I told you about. I said if he wanted to know how I felt he should look in the box and then I went to bed.'

'Do you know if he looked at them?'

'I don't know, I went to my room and made the door imperturbable so he couldn't come anywhere near it.'

'Did you see him this morning at all?'

'Yes actually…I was just about to apparate to work when he came running down the stairs.'

'What did he say?'

'He just said my name but I apparated before he could say much else.'

'Doesn't that show you something? He wanted to talk to you this morning, from what you've said he couldn't have got much more sleep than you but he obviously wanted to talk to you, and he managed to get up in time to try.'

'Barely.'

'It doesn't matter Hermione.'

'To be honest mum I wouldn't have cared if he'd camped outside my room waiting for me. He hurt me with what he said, I never thought he'd think that low of me.'

Jan fell silent, trying to think of something that could be a reason behind it all. She came up with nothing.

'Do you have any idea what brought this on?'

'NO! I have no idea!'

She slumped back down on to the bed, tiredness trying to creep over her.

'Hermione, you know your dad and I are here for you and you are more than welcome to stay here if you want to, but the longer you stay here and the longer you leave the things with Ron the harder it'll be when you see him.'

Hermione looked at the ceiling. She knew her mum was right but that didn't mean she wanted to do anything about it.

'Do you want anything to eat or drink?'

'No, I'm not hungry.'

'Ok, well if you need anything just shout, I'll leave you to it, I'm only downstairs.'

Jan got up and left the room leaving the door how she had found it. Hermione stretched her arms above her head and felt the wall behind her. She interlocked her fingers and her third finger on her left hand automatically rested on where her ring should be on her right hand. She sighed deeply and shakily – a side effect of her crying.

_I swear to God Ron if this all boils down to your jealousy I'll hex you into oblivion._

She closed her eyes and thought about what her mum had said. It was true that he had come down to talk to her this morning, even if she hadn't given him the chance to say anything.

Maybe he _was_ sorry for what he'd said, then again it didn't matter, he still treated me badly last night not to mention the past few weeks. He has to realise what he's done, it'll take more than and 'I'm sorry' to rectify this one.

As much as she was determined to not let him get away with this, she hoped he'd prove her wrong _and_ be able to prove to her he was worth her love.

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**Please let me know what you think :D :D please...pretty please!**


	21. Chapter 21 Harsh Word to a Friend

**Well, to those who think I'm Ron-bashing, I'm sorry but I think it continues a bit in this one, in some sense - remember Hermione is seriously annoyed! Things are not what they seem though, don't stress!**

**Let me know what you think, as ever:)**

**Step ;)**

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The door tinkled behind Ron as he closed it shut.

'Back again,' the elderly wizard asked as he pushed his glasses and inch up his nose.

'Yeah,' Ron replied, 'back again.'

'The usual or are you going to have a change?'

Ron smiled. 'The usual, well a bit different, but essentially the same.'

'Right, okay then, let's get on with it.'

…oooOOOooo…

Ron apparated to the end of a muggle street. He knew he shouldn't have done it really, not in broad daylight, but he didn't really care; he had something to do, and he needed to do it now. He set off walking, no one else seemed to be about, then again it was the middle of the day, the kids should be in school and those who worked, were doing so.

The wind sent shivers through him so he buried his nose into the collar of his winter coat. He knew, though, that it wasn't just the icy breeze that was making him shiver, it was the thought of what he was about to do.

He had never been so scared in his life. He thought he had felt fear when fighting in the final battle, but that was second compared to this. He was cold, but sweating at the same time and his breathing was shallow.

'Merlin Weasley, calm down!' he growled at himself. 'Pull yourself together!'

He took a few deep breaths and forced his head up out of his coat. He walked up the street and stopped when he came up to a familiar house. He looked up at the window on the top floor and sighed. The curtains were closed and he knew why.

His brow furrowed as he looked at the window, not really looking at it, but seeing what he wanted to see in his minds eye.

'Are you man enough Weasley?' he asked himself. 'I guess I'm about to find out.'

He hesitated for a second and then took a step forward.

…oooOOOooo…

She shut her eyes but sleep wouldn't come, she dozed for about an hour then he heard her mum talking to someone downstairs, she hadn't heard the doorbell or the phone go, but then again, she could have just missed the sound.

Hermione rolled over to face the wall hoping for no more distractions. She was disappointed, therefore, when her mum opened the door.

'Hermione, there's someone here to see you.'

She sat bolt upright in bed hoping it wasn't Ron; he couldn't see her in this state, surely her mum would realise this?

'It's not…' she started before her mum cut her off.

'It's Harry,' Jan replied.

Hermione sighed in relief and lay back down. If this was Ron's way of telling her he was sorry she was not impressed.

Jan went downstairs and Harry entered the room.

'H?' he asked.'

'What?' she answered irritably.

'Are you ok?'

'What do you think?'

Harry flinched at the tone of her voice.

'I'd say no considering you're at home, in bed and entirely pissed off at one o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon.'

'Well, you're entirely correct, well done!'

'Hermione are you going to be short with me the whole time I'm here?'

'That depends.'

'On what?'

'Why are you here?'

'What do you mean _why am I here_? I'm here because I need to make sure you're alright, it's what best friends do for each other.'

'Did he ask you to talk to me?'

Damn he thought; this wasn't going to go down well. 

'Look Hermione, I won't lie to you; Ron did ask me to talk to you-'

'Typical-'

'BUT…the reason why I came to see you is because Cairo told me what happened this morning. That's not like you H.'

'Yeah well things change and people change Harry. People change.'

He sighed realising this was going to be harder than he thought.

'So what did he ask you to say to me?' she asked trying to keep her voice steady.

'He has a name Hermione.'

'Please Harry don't have a go at me for not saying his name, he's lucky I'm talking about him at all.'

'Fine, forget I said it. He wanted me to tell you to please be at home for six. He wants to talk to you.'

'And he expects me to be there?'

'He _hopes_ you'll be there?'

'Why couldn't he have told me? And come to think of it, why are you doing his dirty work? I thought you had more self respect.'

Her comments, though harsh, were expected. Hell, Harry thought, I'm surprised I got this far!

'I'm here first and foremost because I needed to check you were okay, I already told you that. As much as I think he's a stupid git for what he's done I'm still his best mate, and you don't abandon your friends because they make a mistake.'

'_A_ mistake! Harry, this is hardly _one_ mistake!'

'Hermione shut up and let me finish!'

She was caught off guard by his comments, but then again, she _was_ being rude. She stopped talking but continued to scowl.

'We all make mistakes and I'm not saying I condone what he did, hell I nearly stormed downstairs and beat the shit out of him last night when I heard some of the things he said to you but please, just give him a chance to explain, he was frantic this morning when you left,' he paused, waiting to see if his words had made a difference.

'Why didn't you?' she replied.

'Why didn't I what?'

'Why didn't you come downstairs and beat the shit out of him?'

'It wasn't my place to, and besides, whatever you said or did seems to have done just as good a job. I've never seen him like that.'

Had Hermione been a bit less angry, the faint glimmer of hope that had ignited in her mind might have had a chance to grow, as it was, it was extinguished the second it had sparked.

'So are you going to come home?'

'I'm going nowhere.'

'Please Hermione don't be like this,' he pleaded quietly.

'Like what?' she replied angrily, 'upset? Angry? So confused that it's starting to scare me because I don't know what to do? Depressed because I thought I was done with feeling this sad and lonely?'

What had started out as a rant quickly became a plea for help. Her voice had been strong throughout the most part but thinking about being alone had brought the tears back and eventually her voice broke, telling Harry she was hurting as much as he feared she was. She rolled over away from him and attempted to bury herself in the quilt.

His initial thought was to comfort her and hold her close telling her everything would be ok, but seeing her like this reminded him of how she'd been after she found out about Ron. She had refused to get out of bed for a week and he was truly scared. She had always been the rational, reasonable and sensible one. Hiding from her friends and wallowing in self pity was not something Hermione Granger did, that was for weaker people, people who didn't have her strength of character.

He wouldn't have believed it had he not witnessed it himself. Even though he had Ginny, this was the fourth person he had lost, first Sirius, then Dumbledore, then Ron and then Hermione.

When she came back to him he was so happy. He was not going to go back to _that_ place. He would drag her out of bed kicking and screaming if he had to.

'NO!' he suddenly exclaimed, 'Hermione I won't let you do this, not again, I won't let you, I can't let you.'

Hermione turned her head slightly towards him, alarmed by his frantic tone.

'I won't let you waste away in here again. I won't let you. I can't let you. Not again!'

She had turned to face him and seeing the hurt in his face sat up to calm him down.

'Harry what the hell's going on? You're starting to scare me.'

He calmed down a little.

'I'm sorry, but when you found out what happened to Ron in the final battle and wouldn't get out of bed it scared me Hermione. I thought I was losing you as well as having just lost Ron. This is just bringing all that back and I can't let you do it again.'

Hermione was shocked by the words Harry had just said, and they took her back to a time in her life she didn't like to be reminded of.

…oooOOOooo…

She didn't really remember that week, she had been asleep for most of it and when she did wake up she cried, never stopping until she fell back to sleep. It was the guilt she had felt that stopped her from getting up. She thought they would blame her for what had happened, she did, so why wouldn't others? She just couldn't face them.

On the seventh day that she had refused to get out of bed, Molly Weasley had come to see her. Hermione's mum and dad were very happy to see her; they saw her as the only one who could bring their daughter out of her depression. Hermione was awake when Molly had walked into her room, but like the past six days she couldn't bring herself to talk to her, it was too hard. Luckily this only spurred Molly on.

'Hermione dear, why aren't you getting up? You should be out celebrating with everyone. The parties haven't stopped yet, and they don't look like they are going to for weeks!'

Hermione hadn't moved, she remained staring at the wall.

'There's talk of the three of you being offered the Order of Merlin, they aren't sure what class though, but that's something isn't it? You'll be the youngest witch and wizards to be awarded one, you, Harry and Ron.'

Hermione flinched at his name and a new wave of tears left her eyes. Molly thought about what she could say to the young witch that would at least get her talking.

'Hermione this is ridiculous!' her tone turned serious as if she was telling off the twins for a dangerous practical joke. 'There's no point in shutting yourself away; it isn't going to change anything. We can't change what's happened, we can only deal with it the best we can, and you lying here is not the way to deal with this. I know you blame yourself for what happened to Ron,' she heard a small sob escape from Hermione­ – at least this showed she was listening, 'and that is just stupid. You're a very intelligent witch Hermione; I can't believe you would think something so silly!

'The only people responsible for this are the two Death Eaters who cast the spells. They and they alone are responsible. I am so proud of the both of you. I would have been disappointed in him if he hadn't gone back to find you because I know you would have done exactly that. This has got to stop Hermione, it really is ridiculous. Everyone misses you and wants to see you and I bet Ron would love to hear your voice too. Now, I'm having the family round for dinner tomorrow night and I expect you to be there, and I'm inviting Harry too. I won't tell anyone I've invited you, it will be a nice surprise for them when you arrive won't it?'

She stood up and straightened out her skirt and coat.

'I'll see you tomorrow at six. Goodbye Hermione.'

The next evening Molly waited anxiously for Hermione at the Burrow, she hadn't told anyone about going to see her or her invitation, she just hoped that Hermione would arrive.

At five to six there was a knock on the door, expecting it to be her husband arriving home from work she went to answer it. (The strict security Ministry approved security measures were still in operation, the remaining un-captured Death Eaters had become desperate, sometimes causing pain and turmoil out of sheer panic.)

'Arthur is that you?' she asked through the door.

'Er no,' the voice replied, 'it's Hermione.'

Forgetting all security measures Molly wrenched open the door and stood in shock at the sight of the young witch. Although pale and thinner than she had ever been, a small smile was creeping onto her face.

'Good evening Molly, I brought a bottle of wine for the meal.'

Resisting the urge – temporarily – to wrap her arms around her surrogate daughter, Molly replied in a very calm manner.

'Thank you Hermione, there was no need but thank you.'

She took the wine from Hermione and placed it on the work surface. She took the pace that separated them and gave Hermione a huge hug, squeezing her a little tighter than was absolutely necessary.

As Hermione held on to Molly she had the sudden urge to cry – it had become something of a habit – but she managed to compose herself.

'Thank you,' Hermione said in a barely audible whisper.

'You're welcome,' Molly replied, just as quietly.

They pulled apart, both with tears in their eyes but with smiles on their faces.

'So how can I help Molly? Does the table need setting?'

Instinctively Molly knew that that was it. Hermione had finished a chapter in her life and was starting a fresh one. There was nothing more to be said about the past week, unless of course Hermione wanted to talk about it.

'No dear, the boys, Ginny and Harry have everything under control.'

'There must be something I can do to help.'

'Well if you insist, there are plenty of little jobs to be done.'

It was a pleasant night that followed. A few loud gasps were heard as Hermione entered the dining room behind the bowls and plates she had charmed to precede her in, and after everyone had given her a hug hello they settled down to a beautiful meal and chatted like they had no worries in the world.

…oooOOOooo…

'Harry, it was guilt that kept me in bed for a week. I couldn't cope with the way I felt about the whole thing and because of that I was scared to see anyone in case they said the same. I know that no one did but I didn't believe you when you told me so. It was only when Molly told me that I finally realised the truth. I knew she wouldn't and couldn't lie to me.'

'I didn't lie to you!' Harry exclaimed, slightly hurt.

'I know Harry, but I knew you would have said anything to get me out of bed. That's what friends do, and you weren't just a friend, you were a friend in desperation. You know Molly's not good at hiding how she feels; I knew she really meant what she said. I know that's hard to understand and I can't apologise enough for what I put you through, but it's a part of my life I've put behind me.'

'Then why all this now? Why refuse to come home tonight?'

'Because I don't know if I can face him. I'm sick of being let down by him.'

'Forget about Ron for a minute. Will you promise me that you will not spend days in here because of what's happened.'

'Harry the only reason I came here was because I couldn't face going home, and as much as I've been crying I also managed to catch up on a bit of sleep, not much, but a bit.'

'Why did you leave work though? That's not like you at all.'

'I left because I couldn't concentrate on anything, there was no point in me being sat in a cold dungeon freezing my arse off if I wasn't taking notes and I didn't want to make a spectacle of myself when I couldn't stop crying.'

'You didn't write _anything_ down? That's possibly the most concerning thing I've ever heard!'

For the first time that day Hermione smiled, Harry reciprocated the gesture.

'Harry you taught me there was so much more to life than working. I'm sure missing a day's lectures isn't going to make a difference in the long run. Speaking of which, shouldn't you be heading back? It's quarter to two,' she added checking her watch.

'Yeah I suppose I should, are you sure you don't want me to stay here and keep you company?'

'No I'm fine, I'll take the opportunity to try and get some more sleep. Would you mind taking some notes for me when you have your evidence giving lecture thing so I can catch up?'

Harry smiled.

'Yeah I will, I'll let you copy mine.'

'I said _notes_ Harry, not random doodlings from the disturbed mind of Saviour Boy!'

'Okay, now I know you're ok if you're calling me that!'

'Well, not quite okay, but I'll get there.'

'So are you going to see Ron tonight?'

Her face turned serious again.

'I don't know,' she replied truthfully.

'I think you should go H, you'll regret it if you don't. You're not the type of person who runs away from things, you were a Gryffindor remember, we face our challenges head on, and I think he might surprise you.'

'I'll think about it, that's all I'm saying.'

'Fair enough, that's all I can ask. I'm going to the Burrow straight from work. Ginny and I will be there all night if you need us ok?'

'Okay, thanks Harry'.

'You're welcome.'

Harry stood up and Hermione followed, she saw Harry out of the house and registered the look of relief on her mum's face as she saw Hermione up and about when Harry was saying goodbye to her. The friends hugged before Harry left.

'Six o'clock Hermione, you might be in for a surprise.'


	22. Chapter 22 A Decision to Make

**Sorry about how I end this one, but there was no where I could cut the chapter further on and I didn't want to have a ten page chapter, but I won't keep you waiting long for the next bit, promise. Please let me know what you think!**

**Step ;)**

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Chapter 22

Hermione walked back into the house and instead of going upstairs she went into the lounge to talk to her mum.

Jan smiled as Hermione walked in.

'How's Harry?' she asked.

'He's fine. Cairo told him how I left work this morning and it got him worried.'

'How did you leave?'

'In floods of tears and halfway through the lecture without saying anything to anyone.'

'Ah, I see. He succeeded where I failed though, at least he managed to get you out of bed.'

'Yes, well apparently seeing me there upset him, it reminded of him of how I was when…well…you know.'

'I can understand that, I must admit the thought crossed my mind too, but I knew things weren't as bad as that when you actually told me what was wrong.'

'Well, I'm sorry if I worried you.'

'Hermione, you're my only daughter I worry about you regardless!'

Hermione smiled.

'I know.'

'So what did Mr. Potter have to say for himself?'

'He said Ron wants me to be at home at six tonight.'

'Oh! Well I suppose that's good. Are you going to go?'

'I don't know yet.'

'I think you should, you'll regret it if you don't.'

'Harry said that too.'

'Well obviously we're both right!' Jan replied with a smile. She took a deep breath and decided to tell her only daughter a few things she hadn't before.

'Hermione when I was finishing my first year at university I made a decision; I decided it was better to go through life grabbing every opportunity with both hands and learning from any mistakes I made – and I've made a few believe me – than to go through life regretting not doing things because I was scared of making those mistakes. If you don't go home tonight and speak to Ron you will _always_ wonder about what might have happened, and you could get this whole thing sorted tonight and be able to move on from it all.'

'I suppose it does make sense to go,' Hermione conceded.

'You know you won't get any happier until you talk to him.'

'I know,' she said, relaxing ever so slightly. 'So have you done what you said you wanted to? Gone through life taking every opportunity that came along?'

'For the most part. I said yes to your father when he asked me to marry him without a second thought, and when the chance came to set up the practice with him I said yes to that too. But with age comes a small amount of wisdom and sometimes it just isn't practical to do what might seem like a good idea. University puts a lot of great ideas and ideals into your head but in the real world things are a little different.'

'Do you think I missed out because I haven't gone to a muggle university?'

'As much as university is about getting a qualification it's also about the experiences you have whilst you are there, but it isn't the be all and end all, people gain a lot more from the university of life, Hermione, and with what you've been through the past couple of years with your 'hero mission' as I've heard Ginny call it, you've experienced a hell of a lot more than three years at university would have ever given you. Plus you're doing your training now so you're getting the qualifications you need to do what you want.'

'Yeah I think I've had enough life experience to last me a good ten years!'

Her eyes land on the clock above the fireplace. 'Er mum, shouldn't you have been at work an hour ago?'

'Well yes, but I phoned your dad and told him what was going on and I told him I would wait until Harry left to see if I was going back. I can stay here with you if you want.'

'No, it's okay; there's no need. I'm going to go and get some sleep before tonight. I suppose if I'm going to talk to Ron then I'd better be as awake as I can be. Can I stay for tea though? I'll make it for five when you get in.'

'That'd be lovely darling.'

Jan stood up and hugged Hermione goodbye.

'I'll see you later.'

'Bye mum, drive carefully.'

'I will do.'

As she watched her mum drive off down the road Hermione felt a little more relaxed. Her mind envisaged some of the many scenarios that could unfold when she got home tonight. One of which had her throwing things at Ron, and another, them making up after hours of apologies from him, well, not hours, but at least half an hour, and she might have to do a bit of apologising herself.

After a hopeful flick through the television channels she gave up hope of finding something good to watch, so she made her way upstairs to get a couple of hours sleep before she had to get up and make the tea.

As she crawled into bed for the second time that day she thought about how she would play things tonight, coolly, angrily or try and pull of an 'I'm really not that bothered' attitude. However, with her mind now more relaxed she fell asleep before she had made her decision.

After awakening at four o'clock Hermione made tea for herself, her mum and her dad. They sat down at five to a well-balanced, healthy meal, until the tinned chocolate pudding went into the microwave. Hermione chatted with her mum and dad happily; neither of her parents mentioned what Hermione was about to do.

Hermione fell silent, though, as she was drying the dishes her dad had just washed. Charles refused to buy a dishwasher and Hermione didn't even think about doing them with magic. At ten to six Jan walked into the kitchen.

'Hermione it's ten to. I know it only takes a second for you to get home, but still.'

As thoughts of apparation filled her concentration she realised she could have cleaned the dishes in an instant instead of her dad having to do it.

'I'm sorry Dad, I completely forgot!'

'Forgot what?' Charles asked.

Hermione picked up her wand off the worktop and waved it over the remaining dishes, they were instantly clean. She did the same over the washed ones and they dried.

'Well, that certainly made short work of that!' Charles said with a smile.'

'I don't know why but when I come home I totally forget I'm a witch!'

Charles chuckled as he dried his hands.

Hermione walked out of the kitchen carrying her wand and went up the stairs to collect her bag and put her shoes on. She looked in her full-length mirror and wasn't too put off by what she saw. She took her hair out of the loose ponytail she had put it in earlier whilst she was making the tea and charmed it so it fell in loose curls down her back. She removed the mascara that had been taken off her eyelashes by her tears and settled in the corner of her eyes, and was then satisfied that she looked presentable enough. She pulled her trainers on and slipped her jacket over her shoulders. Her bag was put over her head, the strap across her body and she made her way back downstairs.

Jan was waiting for her at the foot of the stairs.

'Ready to go?' Jan asked.

Hermione took a deep breath, trying to calm her sudden attack of nerves.

'I suppose so.'

Jan hugged Hermione and kissed her on her forehead.

'Any words of wisdom?' Hermione asked her mum.

'Give him a chance to explain before you fly off the handle, and don't be too stubborn either, I know how you can get, you get it from your father! Remember you are allowed to compromise, you have to, to have a happy, balanced relationship. Remember he's trying. He wouldn't have asked you to come home if he wasn't.'

'I know.'

'One last thing, trust your own judgement, you're a very intelligent girl, Hermione, but trust your instincts, sometimes your heart knows more than your head.'

'Thanks mum.'

'Will you let us know how things go?'

'The thing is I have no idea how long this could take. Presume no news is good news and I'll come and see you at lunchtime tomorrow to fill you in.'

'Okay.'

Hermione checked her watch.

'Right well I'd better go. Bye Dad!' she shouted through to the lounge. Her dad emerged reading the TV guide.

'Goodbye Hermione,' he walked over to her and, like her mum, kissed her on her forehead. 'Good luck.'

'Thanks Dad. See you later.'

She turned on the spot and apparated home.

As she was apparating, something felt strange, a force was pushing her off her destination. She had planned to reappear in her bedroom but allowed herself be pushed off course, and appeared inside the front door of the house. She opened her eyes and was taken aback by what she saw. She was instantly irritated by the fact that Ron (or Harry) had, apparently, put anti-apparation wards on all parts of the house except the front hall, but it quickly died down as she took in her surroundings. Her eyes were drawn to the floor where candles lined both sides of the hallway where the walls met the floor. She could smell Lavender incense in the air – her favourite for calming herself down. Was Ron trying to calm her down before she saw him?

Hermione thought back to her time at Hogwarts when Ron and Lavender were attached at the lips. In times of stress she would normally find her small purple teddy bear, which was Lavender scented, to hold and it would usually calm her down. Needless to say that after she had sent her newly conjured birds at Ron at great speed, she couldn't find comfort in her Lavender bear that night. The irony was cruel.

When her thoughts brought her back to the present she slowly started to walk forward, following the candlelight. The odd one was floating in mid-air. Whilst she was looking at one of them her foot landed on something that made a crinkling sound. Quickly she took a step back and bent down to retrieve it from the floor. She read the piece of parchment.

_Better to light a candle than to curse in the darkness,  
__Better to stand and fight than to hide or run away,  
__May the candles around us now help us to disperse _our_ darkness,  
__And may our love for each other live to fight another day._

She wasn't sure what to think, had Ron written this? He wasn't exactly the poetic type; then again he had surprised her with her ring so maybe this _was_ him. She walked a few more steps forward and looked left into the kitchen. The row of candles went across the entrance; silently telling her this was not her final destination. She took a few more steps and the ground became littered with petals. They were a bright scarlet, the same colour as her favourite dress robes. Lying on top of a pile of the petals was another piece of parchment; again she bent down, picked it up and read it.

_My words may not be clever, or make thousands stop and stare,  
__I wish I could be Orpheus, at words better, I would fair,  
__But then no, I would be Orestes, his loyalty was plain to see,  
__When he fought to defend his honour and his precious Hermione._

Hermione couldn't help but smile, she had always had a slight obsession with Greek Mythology, with a name like hers it was hardly surprising, but it was all lost on Ron. He must have worked hard to get his facts right about her namesake, she thought.

_Well Harry, you were right, I am surprised, let's just hope any other surprises I get tonight are good ones._

The candles carried on to the lounge door and through it coming to a stop about a metre into the room. She guessed Ron was waiting for her in there.

'Well, here goes!' she muttered to herself. She stepped over the pile of petals, which had previously held the parchment and into the room, she looked to her right and saw candles covering most of the furniture, casting awkward shadows over the wood. As she took a step further in she heard him gasp as he saw her entering the room.

'You came,' he said quietly.

'I did,' she replied, she was surprised at how calm she felt, maybe the Lavender was working.

'I'm sorry for the wards forcing you to the hallway but I wanted you to come through the house that way.'

'It's okay,' she looked at the floor and the pieces of parchment in her hand caught her eye.

'Did er…did you write these,' she asked.

'Er…yeah, yeah I did. It took me longer than I thought though. I hope you don't mind; I borrowed your Greek Mythology book and your little book of proverbs. They both really drew me in actually, I was reading them and I had to keep reminding myself to write and not read. It was weird!'

'You don't need to tell me how powerful books can be.'

Ron smiled.

'No, I don't suppose I do, I should have known you were right though, you usually are.'

'Yes well…that's neither here nor there.'

'Actually it's quite an important point, it's what made me realise how pathetic, annoying and stupid I've been. I know I don't deserve to talk to you. I don't even deserve to be here breathing the same air as you which is why I want to thank you for coming to talk to me, and giving me the chance to explain.'

Hermione sat on the sofa and put her bag down on the floor.

'Ron, don't put-'

'Please Hermione,' he asked quietly.

'I'm listening.'

Earlier in the day when Ron had been thinking about what he could say to rectify the situation, he wondered whether he should write it down or try and remember it all. He decided to try and do it from memory; he thought it would look more sincere and less contrived if he did. In the end he compromised, he wrote a couple of words on his hand as prompts.

As she sat across the room from him he was glad he had, he was lost for words, not brilliant, especially when they were the only tools he had to help him. A quick glance at his hand, thankfully, got him back on track.

Well, he thought, _here goes nothing!_


	23. Chapter 23 Confusion and Revelations

**I told you I wouldn't keep you waiting! Hopefully you'll like how I did it.  
****Not long now, and I swear chapter 15 of Together Forever is in progress!  
Let me know what you think!...Please:)**

**Step ;)**

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Chapter 23 

'Hermione, I know my behaviour the past few weeks has been…bad to say the least and worst of all it's hurt you, and I'm not excusing what I did, but I need to explain it 'cause I need you to understand how I felt.'

He looked up at her and saw she was looking at him. 'Is…is that okay?'

'Yes,' she said quietly.

'Right then.' He paused before continuing. 'Well, when I woke up I told you that I'd been dreaming of you and that you'd comforted me whilst I was asleep. Well that was true, but I thought you were dead and that it was your spirit that was with me. When I found you that night lying on the floor I didn't want to believe that you were dead but I thought you were and I blamed myself. If I hadn't left you alone I could have protected you. That's why I was so scared when I woke up, not that I let you see it. I thought I'd have to face the world without you. But then I saw you were there, _alive_, and I realised there was no reason to be scared anymore, you would be with me forever.'

'Why…why in Merlin's name didn't you tell me?' Hermione asked in a whisper.

'There was no point; everything was fine, better than I could have imagined. My family were alive, Harry was alive and you were alive, that was all that mattered.'

Hermione breathed deeply. 'So er…so what changed?'

'Well it sounds stupid, but it hit me quite hard when I found out how long I'd been unconscious. I know two months isn't a long time in the grand scheme of things, but I'd – _we'd_ – been trying to live each day to the fullest before the battle, well, as much as we could anyway. So to find out I'd lost two months of my life I couldn't ever get back was quite…hard to take.

'Then I found out what had been going on and what I'd missed out on with everyone. Harry was back together with Ginny and she was training to be a Healer, you and Harry were training to be Aurors and had your own house-'

'It was always _our_ house Ron, one for _all three of us_, it was never just mine and Harry's.'

'I know Hermione, but it still felt strange moving in. You two had your own routines and little ways that obviously didn't involve me and it annoyed me a bit. I didn't want it to but it did. I didn't want to think that you'd moved on without me.'

'Ron, I'd done anything but move on! I told you your mum had to-'

'Beg you to leave me, I know! I'm not saying this was rational behaviour or truthful in _any_ way, but it was the way I felt.'

Hermione went to argue the point but he stopped her before she started.

'Hermione please, you have every right to want to have a go at me but you have to know everything first, then you can shout at me all night if you want to, it's what I deserve but I _have_ to explain. You need to…you _deserve_ to know everything.'

'I'm sorry, carry on.'

'Please don't apologise, there's no need. Anyway apart from those things I thought occasionally, everything was fine, great even. We went out, we had fun, I met yours and Harry's new friends and we met up with ours from school, but then I started noticing how Cairo was with you. I knew he liked you a lot and I knew you knew it too, you'd already told me what he did and at first it didn't bother me. But when you danced with him the night we all went out to that club I got so wound up I almost did something stupid, but Ginny stopped me. She gave me a right ear bashing so I let it go. I know it was nothing to you the fact that you danced with him but I could see he was getting his hopes up of something happening between you two. I thought it was only a matter of time before you realised he was the one you wanted and not me.'

Hermione sighed, exasperated at Ron.

'So anyway, over the weeks that followed I couldn't cope knowing he was seeing you everyday and it was messing me up. I started going out to bars with Seamus and he didn't make things any better, he'd just broken up with Laura so was hardly the best one to go to for advice. But after a while he started to move on and started to accept what had happened and that's when he started trying to get me to face my demons and talk to you about them. He told me over and over again to talk to you but I didn't. I was so convinced that I was losing you to Cairo that I didn't even notice or think I was hurting you 'cause I thought you'd moved on.

'Then there was the time you went to see Zabini.'

Hermione went to argue but stopped, Ron had, after all, asked her to listen.

'I know, you told me you needed to see him, but I don't really understand why, and when you didn't tell me where you were going, it felt like you didn't trust me or something…I dunno…'

When Ron didn't continue Hermione spoke.

'Ron, I…I told you why I needed to go and see him. I needed to know that it wasn't Malfoy who was spreading those lies!'

'Why did you care though?'

'_Why did I care_? Ron, lies like that cause a hell of a lot of damage! They hurt you more than I like to think about and I'd hate them to get back to anyone else I care about!'

'Okay, I get that, but do you understand why I didn't want you to go and see him?'

Hermione sighed. 'I…I do, yes. I know he was involved with you getting into trouble with the Ministry and you don't trust him as far as you can throw him, but I _needed_ to know. I just didn't want to upset you anymore. I'm sorry. I should have told you, there's no excuse for me not telling you, but you have to understand that I needed to know.'

Ron nodded and sighed. He took a few seconds before he continued.

'What everything comes down to is the fact that I'm an incredibly jealous person. I let it overrun me and it stops me looking at things objectively.' He took a shaky breath. 'I'll understand perfectly if you want to end things. You have every right to. I accused you of being unfaithful and disloyal when I know you are the most loyal person I've ever met. You've stuck by me since we took on that Goddamn troll in first year, even though I made it so hard on you on occasions, and I don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to defending my actions. But if you'll take me back I promise I'll do everything in my power to change, I'll talk to someone about my jealousy if you want me to, I'll err…I'll start being the boyfriend you deserve. I went to see dad today about getting a job helping him until I start training next year, and if…if you want me to I can move back to the Burrow to give you some space. Whatever you need or want, or if you don't want or need anything…from me…then-'

'Ron.'

'Yes.'

'You're rambling.'

'Sorry,' he replied. He fell silent and looked at his shoes.

Hermione looked up at him and looked properly at him. He was wearing the worn jeans she thought he looked sexy in, the white shirt with the grey stripes running in every direction over it and his black loafers. He had even had his hair cut to the length she thought suited him best even though he preferred it slightly longer.

Basically, she thought, he's made an effort and he looks smart as hell!

But it was her turn to talk and he was waiting for her response, she knew the silence was torturing him. She left him hanging for another minute before she spoke.

'Ron I…I'm so annoyed at you for letting things get this far. If you had a problem with Cairo we could have talked about it and I could have stopped all these thoughts you were having from manifesting into this…this…_thing_ that became unbearable for both you and me. It made me question everything I did because I knew you were miserable but you wouldn't tell me what was wrong or how I could make things right. There's nothing worse than thinking, _knowing_ you're the reason why the person you love is miserable, especially when you can't see what you're doing wrong. It was a horrible thing to live with.'

'I know, I'm so sorry I made you feel that bad. I was unbelievably stupid-'

'Ron, I let you talk, now let me do the same, please.'

'Of course, I'm sorry.'

'I can kind of understand how you felt about moving in. When people have a set routine it can be hard to join in or add your routine to it but you should have known it would happen eventually! You and Harry lived in each other's pockets for years and surely I'm not that hard to live with?'

'I-'

'Please Ron.'

He fell silent.

'Apart from that one night that I danced with him in a way that could be misconstrued as over-the-top flirting, what the hell have I done that would make you think I was falling for Cairo? Every night before we fell asleep in each other's arms I told you I loved you, and you said the same to me. I believed you, why the hell couldn't you reciprocate? The only reason we stopped sleeping in the same bed was because you stopped coming home before midnight and of all the people you asked for advice you asked Seamus! I know he's one of your good friends but with what Laura did to him did you honestly think he'd give you a rational and unbiased opinion? What happened to Harry? Why couldn't you have talked to him? Or, God forbid, why didn't you confront _me_ and tell me exactly what I was doing that was making you think like that? If it was something I was doing I deserved you having a go at me and telling me to stop it because it was making you unhappy. Please, tell me what it was.'

Ron sighed, knowing his answer wasn't going to help his cause.

'There wasn't anything, not really, it was just the fact that you were…being _you_ around him, I know that doesn't make sense, but to people like me and Cairo, when you're just being you, normal everyday Hermione, you're irresistible. I knew that was how he was seeing you because it's the way I see you. Every time you mentioned him in passing I made a huge thing about it in my head and I saw him looking at you the way I do.'

Hermione sighed deeply, a surge of emotion swept through her, but she tried her best to ignore it, she needed to keep a cool head.

'Then please tell me you understand why I'm so pissed off about this whole thing!'

'Of course I do. I have no defence except that I was unbelievably jealous and insecure. I guess I just think that…' he trailed off, leaving his sentence unfinished.

'Think that what?'

'Nothing, it doesn't matter.'

'Ron, this isn't the time for "Nothing, it doesn't matter", tell me what you were going to say.'

For the first time that night Ron looked upset, and it was all he could do to stop himself from crying. He hoped Hermione had missed the change, but she hadn't. As much as she was annoyed, all she wanted to do was comfort him. She nearly took a step forward there and then, but she stopped herself.

'I was going to say that I think that you're too…too good for me. You're unbelievably intelligent, you're kind and caring, you're responsible and rational and you're the most beautiful witch in the world, and what am I? I'm Ron Weasley, mediocre wizard, hot headed, and jealous to the point that I accuse my incredibly loyal girlfriend of che-' his voice cracked, he put his hand to his mouth to stop himself from crying. He stood up and walked away from Hermione towards the window at the back of the house. When he found his voice again he finished his sentence, 'of cheating on me.'

Although his back was turned Hermione knew he was crying. His hands were on the windowsill and he hung his head. His shoulders shook as he cried silently.

Tears filled her eyes. She had seen Ron cry on very few occasions and she knew it took a lot of stress or upset to make him do so. It was this as well as the effort he had put into making tonight what it was that made her see he was truly sorry. Yes, of course they had their problems, but he had promised her he would sort them out, he had suggested sensible ways of getting himself back on track and none of it was done with prompt from her. And she would change too. Anything she was doing that made Ron paranoid in any way, she would stop. Or if that was impossible for whatever reason then she would try damn hard to make him see it for what it really was. He had changed, she would too.

This was the Ron she fell in love with.

She walked silently towards him and stood behind him. She put a hand tentatively on his shoulder and pulled him around to face her. He was still crying, not bothering to try and hide it anymore.

'Come here,' she whispered. She put one hand around his neck and the other around his waist pulling him towards her. He wrapped his arms around her and held onto her as if his life depended on it. He sobbed into her shoulder releasing the angst and worry he had been trying to keep under control since she left that same room early that morning.

'Shh, don't cry Ron; there's no need. Shh.'

In response he hugged her tighter, silently telling her how much he felt for her. After a second she did the same, letting him know she still felt the same way about him.

'I'm…I'm so so s…sorry Hermione.'

'I know you are, but I understand what happened. I'm sorry for my part in it all.'

He pulled away from her, but still kept his arms around her as if afraid to let her go.

'Will you t…take me back?' he asked, his breathing still uneven from crying.

'No. I won't take you back.'

Tears instantly filled his eyes.

'There's no need to, I never let you go in the first place.'

Now it was Hermione's time to cry. Granted, not as much as Ron, but a sort of relief swept through her, not a total relief, there was still a way to go, but it was a start.

'I'll tell you what you are Ron Weasley; you're sensitive, you're caring, and you're an amazing wizard. But most importantly you're my best friend and underneath the tough guy image there's an incurable romantic dying to get out.'

For the first time since she had walked into the room he smiled, a genuine, beaming smile that melted her heart as it had the night he had told her he loved her.

'Which I want to see a lot more of from now on! Those poems were beautiful, I never knew you had such a way with words.'

'Well I don't know if I'd call them poems, but neither did I. Then again I've never even tried to write poetry before so I wouldn't have known if I had the skill of Keates.'

'_Keates_?'

Ron laughed at the shock on Hermione's face.

'Ron where did you learn words like that?' she said, laughing with him.

'From one of your beloved books of course! I hadn't a clue where to look but I thought looking in a poetry book would be a start. I'd seen you reading it so I knew you liked it but I didn't get anything from it. I preferred your little proverbs book. They were a lot simpler to understand!'

'Well if at any point in the future you feel like spouting poetry, simple or not, please do, but…' she fell silent.

'But what?'

'Can…can it be our little secret? I know it sounds selfish and slightly weird but I like being the only one who knows this about you. Unless I'm not the only one who knows you write poetry of course.'

Ron smiled.

'Believe me, you are the only one who knows I can write simple rhyming poetry, and yes it can be just for you. It can be something I do for you and you alone. Oh! I almost forgot!'

He went to walk to the other side of the room but hesitated.

'If I let you go, will you promise to stay here?' he asked with a smile.

Her stomach flipped at that smile, she didn't know how he did it but it happened every time.

'Ron, you know a while back, when Seamus first broke up with Laura and you came back home really shaken up?'

'Yeah, yeah I do.'

'You made me promise that I'd never leave you. Do you remember?'

'Yes,' he replied quietly.

'Well I meant it. I promised I wouldn't leave you and I'm still here. I'm going nowhere.'

He took a deep breath and nodded. He leant forwards and kissed her on the forehead.

When he pulled back he took her left hand in his and walked her to the other end of the room. Sat in the middle of the coffee table surrounded by petals was the box Hermione had given him last night. He picked it up and opened it, and took out the drawstring bag.

'It was…it was the ring you got for me that made me realise what you'd been through for me. Harry had told me how it had effected you, I knew you wouldn't want to tell me, and it was only because I threatened Harry with telling Ginny something he said in passing which she would _not_ like to hear, that he told me what you were like for those few days.'

'Oh. Well, I can't say I'm proud of my behaviour-'

'Hermione you don't have to excuse anything. I know if it had been the other way around I would have been worse. Actually that was one of the things that scared me last night. I'd just worn the silver ring and I imagined what it would be like if that happened to you, or worse if I lost you altogether, and that's when I realised how empty my life would be without you. People say that nineteen is far too young to know what love truly is, well I can't imagine feeling anything more than I do for you.'

He picked her ring out of the bag and held it so the gold ring was separated from the rest. He took her right hand and placed the ring on her third finger.

Hermione thought she saw something different inscribed into the gold band but Ron moved it before she had the chance to look at it properly.

'I cast the spell on it last night, but after tonight I think I love you more. I don't deserve to be able to still call you my girlfriend-'

'Ron,' she said cutting him off before he finished the sentence, 'there's a reason why you were given the Order of Merlin, they don't just hand them out to anyone you know, you have to earn them and you did just that. You are brave and you are unbelievably selfless. If there's one thing I'll ask you to do it's to start giving yourself the credit you deserve and to stop comparing yourself to people like Harry. And _please_ stop saying you don't deserve to be with me. Surely that's for me to decide, and for you too, and I say you do. Okay?'

'Okay,' he said quietly.

She took the purple bag from his hand and tipped his ring out onto her palm. She held it the same way Ron had hers, and slipped the gold band onto the third finger on his right hand.

'After three?' she asked him.

'After three,' he agreed. 'One,' he started.

'Two,' she replied,

'Three,' they said in unison. '_Sensus salvus._'

The bands on their fingers grew warm and a warmth spread through the both of them, one that they knew well because it was what they felt for the other, but it was overwhelmingly comforting to know the other felt exactly the same. Their fingers intertwined and they looked into each other's eyes. Hermione wanted to break the silence but she couldn't, happiness was flooding through her and if she said anything she might cry. After a few more blissful seconds she took a deep breath.

'Finite,' she managed to croak out.

Ron opened his eyes but before he could say anything Hermione leaned forward and kissed him. He kissed her back savouring every second. A few hours ago he thought he had done this for the last time. He was so relieved to be kissing her, he had missed her so much and it showed in the way his lips met hers. She pulled back.

'Easy tiger!' she said smiling,

'Sorry,' he said, an embarrassed smile creeping onto his face.

'Don't be,' she said as the smile on her face turning into a cheeky grin. She leant back towards him and kissed him again, 'I've missed you too.'

He pulled her into a hug, 'I love you Hermione Granger and I promise I'll do everything I can to make you happy.'

'I love you too Ron, and I promise I'll do the same. But will you promise me something else?'

'Anything.'

'Okay, a word of warning, that was potentially dangerous, but because I'm far too nice for my own good I won't take advantage of it! Anyway back to my question…will you promise me that you'll always tell me if there's something bothering you? I know you're not one for having deep and meaningfuls every day but still, a problem shared is a problem halved, believe me I know.'

'I promise. The other reason why I never said anything was because I thought you would think less of me, or think I was weak or something. It's a hazard of being the youngest of six boys, can't show weakness or they'll never let you forget it.'

'I'm afraid I'm no help when it comes to sibling rivalry!'

Ron smiled, 'yeah, being an only child does stop you being able to comment!'

'Seriously though Ron, I won't think you weak or anything like that, if anything it'll make you a stronger person.'

'I know.' He took her right hand and took off her ring, formed it into the single band and replaced it. He did the same with his.

'Do you want to watch telly or something, I got some wine in if you want a drink, we can just sit and relax, or if you don't want to watch TV we can just talk, anything you want. I don't mind.'

'Well I wouldn't mind a glass of wine and I do believe it's coming up to eight o'clock and it's Monday night. Which means…'

'Ahh the mother of all muggle soaps! You sit down and get comfy and I'll get the wine. But after that, can we just…talk?'

'I'd like nothing else more.'

As he turned to walk through to the kitchen she caught his arm in her hand. He stopped and turned back towards her.

'What is it?'

'Thank you.'

'What on earth for?'

'For fighting for me, for showing me how much I mean to you. It's nice to know.'

'Then in which case I'll make it my mission to let you know every day.'

'Good, now lets get to the alcohol and gasping uncontrollably at the everyday lives of our favourite muggle actors.'

'Sound perfect!'

And it was, for both of them.


	24. Chapter 24 I promise for, well, Forever

**And so here is the final (bar the epilogue) chapter of 'Losing Sight of a Heartfelt Dream'.  
This one's just a fluff fest so if you're not in the mood I suggest you read it when you are! lol  
****Epilogue to come at some point soon. Thanks for sticking with it.  
****Much love to the continued reviewers, it really does wonders for the confidence.**

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**Cheers, Step ;)**

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The way he was kissing her reminded her of the way he kissed her the night before the final battle, a sense of urgency was in the kiss but a reluctance to hurry it. Her hand reached to the back of his neck and into his hair stroking the shorter hairs at the bottom of his hairline with her little finger. He moaned very quietly but she heard it, and it spurred her on. She smiled against his kiss opening her mouth slightly and brushing her tongue against his bottom lip. He smiled in the same way she had and parted his lips letting her tongue meet his.

His left hand moved gently up her back stroking her spine with his fingers, gently at first and then pressing slightly harder. His right hand moved down her back to the waistband of her jeans, his thumb tucking inside the material, sending a tingle up her spine. She pulled away from the kiss.

'I've missed this,' she whispered.

'Me too, I'm so sorry I was stupid. I'm never letting you go. Ever.'

'Ron, please stop saying you're stupid. That's good though, I like being this close to you.'

'I do too.'

She kissed him again, harder this time but still with a reluctance to rush. He reciprocated, taking the hint to move things along ever so slightly. His hand slid underneath her T-shirt and traced her spine again, tickling the skin as he moved his hand up and down. Her hands moved up around his neck encouraging him to move his hand higher. He opened his eyes and looked down into hers, the deep cinnamon colour drawing him in and for a second making him stop what he was doing completely.

'What?' she asked in a whisper.

'Nothing, I just…your eyes are the most beautiful I've ever seen.'

'Why thank you kind sir, I can safely say yours come a close second!'

He chuckled but his face became more serious after a few seconds.

'I'm so in love with you Hermione, please say we'll be together forever.'

'Do you mean that?' she asked taken aback by the comment.

'Which bit?'

'The forever part, do you really mean forever?'

'Yes I do, I want to be with you every day until I die. I can't imagine my life with anyone else.'

'Neither can I, and I mean that too.'

'Well then, I have an idea.'

He took her hands from behind his neck and took her right one in both of his. He slipped her three-band finger off her finger and held it so the gold band separated.

'Here, hold this a minute,' he said with a smile. 'But don't look at it, just hold it.'

'Er, okay…why?'

'Just stand there a minute, don't move.'

'Ron what are you doing?'

'Hang on a minute and you'll find out!' He said with a wide smile.

He crossed the room to the cabinet in the corner and buried his head in it before pushing something in his pocket and taking his wand off the table before arriving back in front of Hermione.

She breathed in, ready to ask him yet again what he was doing but he silenced her with a kiss. When they broke apart he grinned at her.

'Don't you think kissing me will put me off my questions! You should know better by now,' she said with a giggle.

'Well it was worth a try! Now, just hold your ring, oh and mine too,' he pulled his off his finger and gave it Hermione to hold next to hers.

He raised his wand and touched the gold with the tip. His brow furrowed in concentration and Hermione felt the rings go slightly warm in between her fingertips. They grew cold again when Ron took his wand away from them and threw it on the sofa.

'Do I get an answer yet?'

'Er…no, not yet! Give me a minute.'

He rummaged both his hands in his back pockets simultaneously and then brought them out fists clenched.

'Which hand?' he said with a cheeky grin. He was pointedly looking at his left hand, Hermione noticed and giggled.

'Left,' she said confidently.

Ron turned over his hands and opened his fist.

There was nothing in it.

Ron laughed. 'You are far too easily swayed!'

'Yes, it seems I am, that's the last time I trust you!'

'Well thank you! Come on, guess again. Your odds have certainly shortened!'

'I wouldn't put it past you to have rigged this so I can't win either way! But I'll go for it and say right.'

'Good choice,' Ron said with a smile that melted Hermione's heart.

He opened his fist and Hermione looked at intently. There was definitely something there; the light was catching on something shiny.

When he had opened his hand fully he watched her expression intently, heart in his mouth and his stomach in his feet.

Her eyes looked over every millimetre of the thin gold band and then solitaire diamond in its setting. She took a sharp breath and looked up at Ron.

'Ron its…its beautiful.'

'Well, I'm glad you like it. Hopefully you'll like what I hope you'll let me do with it.'

He swallowed, his mouth had gone dry but he managed to keep a calm impression.

He bent his knees and knelt down on one.

Hermione's eyes widened as she watched him descend.

'Ron what are you doing?'

He smiled his cheeky grin at her. She couldn't help but smile.

'Hermione, you mean the world to me, and as I said, I want to be with you until my dying day. I love you more than I ever imagined I would be able to love someone and I never want to let you go. I can't…and I won't promise that everything will be easy, or perfect, that would be wrong, because it can't be, but I can and will promise that I'll try my hardest to make you the happiest person alive until my dying day.'

Hermione had tears in her eyes. Ron merely grinned at her and continued his speech.

'So, to that end…Hermione Jane Granger, would you do me the greatest honour and marry me?'

Even though she had known what he was doing, she still gasped when the actual words came out of his mouth. A fierce battle was raging inside her mind, there was no doubt that she was in love with Ron, but she was only twenty years old! She couldn't get married at twenty!

Her mother's words came flooding back to her, was this an opportunity she had to grab with both hands? It was one hell of a mistake to learn from if it went wrong! But on the other hand, she loved him, and nothing in the world felt more right than this.

She quickly realised that was all that mattered.

'Yes!' she whispered, 'I'll marry you Ronald Bilius Weasley.'

He slid the single band on the third finger on her left hand and stood up to kiss his fiancée. As he was about to, however, he remembered something.

'Oh wait! You can have your answer now! Take a look at the rings,' he could barely contain his happiness. He pulled her towards him.

She suddenly remembered she was still holding their three banded rings. Carefully she took one in each hand and read the inscription she had seen a glimpse of earlier.

_3rd February 2000, I asked you to be mine. Te amo_

'Wow Ron, you really know how to make a girl cry!' Hermione said quietly as she felt tears forming in her eyes once again.

'Well, as long as they're tears of joy and nothing else. I thought…I thought these could be our wedding bands…if you wanted of course. I don't know if you have any family heirlooms that it's tradition that you use.'

Hermione smiled. 'None that I know of. It's a beautiful idea. I'd like nothing more.'

'Good.'

He leaned in to kiss her.

'Oh no wait!' she exclaimed, 'this is all wrong! You haven't asked my dad if you can marry me! You're supposed to ask him first!'

He smiled at her, melting her heart again as he did so.

'I…er…I already did!'

'What? When?'

'This afternoon.'

'You asked my dad if you could marry me this afternoon? What did he say?'

'He said yes obviously!'

'Well I guessed that, but what else did he say?'

'Well, what you don't know is, when I was sorting things out for this afternoon I went to see your dad at work.'

'You went to see my dad at work?' she asked, very confused.

'Yes.'

'But what-?'

'My darling wife to be, if you keep asking me questions after every sentence it'll take me all night to tell you what happened.'

She laughed.

'I'm sorry; I'll try to contain my questions 'til the end. Please continue.'

Well, when I was sorting all this stuff out,' he waved at his surroundings, 'my eye caught that photo of us two on the fireplace. I stopped and stared and looked at it for what must have been at least five minutes. I realised then that I never wanted to stop looking at you and not just in a photograph,' he smiled when he saw her do the same, 'don't laugh, I know it's not physically possible but I can still dream! Anyway, I realised there and then that I wanted to be with you forever…so, I went to see him to apologise to him for treating his daughter so badly, I had a feeling he'd know what had been going on. I think he saw I meant it with all my heart and he said he appreciated me going to see him. He said your mum had told him that you were upset and didn't know how things would end up between us, so I had to convince him that if you forgave me and took me back that I would love you and look after you until the day I die.

'He was a bit dubious at first, but I managed to convince him that I was being sincere, but then he also said he knew how happy I made you, when we weren't fighting,' Hermione smiled, 'and that he trusted your judgement and knew you would do what was best for you. He said he wished that this day had come further in the future 'cause he hated the idea of giving his precious only daughter away at a relatively young age, but if you said yes then he would doing it willingly.'

'Wow…this is just amazing. I can't believe any of this is happening!'

'Are you happy though?'

She looked up into his blue eyes and smiled.

'I've never been happier; I just can't believe we're getting married. We're getting _married_! It's just so grown up!'

They both laughed.

'I know!'

Hermione started bouncing on the spot, excitement flooding through her. She flung her arms around Ron's neck and hugged him like there was no tomorrow. When they pulled apart Hermione took his right hand and slid his three-ringed band off his finger and took his left hand in hers. She replaced the ring on his left hand.

'You know, I never meant for these to be anything other than reminders for how we felt for each other.'

'I know, but what better way is there to show the world we love each other and want to spend the rest of our lives together, than with a ring that actually tells people how we feel about each other?'

'I suppose there isn't really a better way is there? And talking of telling the world…'

'You want to do it now?'

'Will everyone be awake?'

'It's only eleven o'clock. We can only see.'

'Who first?' Hermione asked.

'Your mum and dad, they deserve to know first.'

She beamed at him.

'Shall we go then?'

'Yep.'

They apparated to the tree in Hermione's back garden. Hermione went to step out from behind it but Ron pulled her back.

'What is it?' she asked, confusion creeping into her eyes.

He pulled her towards him and kissed her, the cold wind not being felt by either of them. He finally lessened his hold on her and she pulled back.

'What was that for?'

'I realised I hadn't kissed you since I proposed, it was our first kiss as a betrothed couple.'

'Oh well, in which case I understand totally. Now come on, it's freezing out here!'

They ran hand in hand to the front of the house, noticing that the light in the lounge was still on. Hermione rang the doorbell and saw the curtains twitch as her dad peered out seeing who was calling at this time of night. When he saw Hermione and Ron he smiled a knowing smile.

He came to the door and let them in. He beamed at his daughter and gave her a kiss on the cheek before they walked into the lounge. When Hermione told her mum and dad the news they were both ecstatic, although her mum was quite shocked – Charles hadn't, at Ron's request told Jan about going to see him.

They arranged to meet up tomorrow and Jan insisted they invite Molly and Arthur along so they could celebrate their news together, and then Hermione and Ron apparated to the Burrow.

Ron opened the door with his wand and led Hermione into the kitchen. No one was there so they moved into the lounge. Ginny and Harry were asleep on the sofa, and Molly and Arthur were each sat on single chairs at either side of the three seater.

'They could be being robbed and no one would notice!' said Ron exasperatingly.

Hermione giggled.

'_He-hem_!' coughed Ron, trying to wake up any of the four sleeping people in front of them. Hermione reached behind Ron's back to pull his left hand out of view of the four of them. He smiled at her realising what she was doing.

'Ron! Hermione! What are you doing here?' asked Molly, 'What time is it?'

'It's twenty past eleven mum, and we came to see you.'

'Why?' Ginny asked, finally waking up. She elbowed Harry in the ribs to wake him up.

'What?' he said automatically as he woke up confused. 'Hey, what are you two doing here?'

'We've come to tell you something,' Ron replied. 'Dad are you awake?' he asked Arthur.

Arthur opened his eyes quickly and looked at his youngest son.

'Yes Ron, I'm awake. What do you have to tell us?'

Ron looked at Hermione, telling her to say it.

'Well,' she said to the carpet in front of her, she was just as nervous as she had been telling her parents. Hopefully this will get easier, she thought. 'Well, Ron has asked me to err…he's asked me to marry him, and I've said yes. So that makes us engaged to be married!' She beamed as she looked at Ron. She looked at the four faces around her, they were stunned but she could see smiles making their way onto their faces as the information sunk in. Both her and Ron waited for the explosion of noise. They weren't disappointed.

The various shouts and screams that came from the four people as they jumped off their various chairs and surrounded the two of them was deafening. Both Molly and Ginny were crying which soon started Hermione off too.

'I'm still your chief bridesmaid aren't I?' Ginny asked through the tears.

'Of course you are,' Hermione replied hugging her best friend.

Harry shook his best friend's hand and then hugged him in a manly way before giving Hermione a huge hug.

When Molly hugged Hermione it was a few minutes before either of them resurfaced.

'Welcome to the family Hermione,' she managed to say through her continuous tears.

'Thank you Molly, I'm honoured to become a Weasley!' This caused the eldest witch to dissolve into even more tears. When everyone had finished hugging Hermione and Ron, the noise level died down a bit.

They stayed for a drink of Firewhisky before the happy couple decided to go home; they almost forgot that Hermione, Harry, Ginny and Arthur, and now Ron had to go to work tomorrow. They told Molly and Arthur that they were invited to Hermione's house the next day at seven for a celebratory drink and they happily accepted.

An hour later when Ron and Hermione were crawling into bed exhausted, they realised that they were the luckiest people in the world, they had each other, they had two loving families and they had great friends.

'I love you Hermione Granger.

'I love you too Ronald Weasley. Now can I suggest something?'

'Suggest away my love!'

She giggled.

'Shall we continue from where we left off earlier, when we were rudely interrupted by a proposal of marriage?'

A smile crept slowly across his face.

'I think that's a perfectly wonderful idea Hermione. Shall I continue at will?'

'Please do.'

So he did.

* * *

**Heh! told you it was fluffy! ;)**


	25. Chapter 25 Epilogue

Epilogue

'Oh you have _got_ to be kidding me!'

Ron had just apparated home after a hard days work at the Ministry, and his day had just got a whole lot worse.

'No, no, no, _no_, NO!'

He walked around the kitchen table and looked at the large piece of parchment which was starting to curl itself into a scroll. He picked up the smaller piece that was laid on top of it and read the handwriting he knew so well.

'Oh please no!'

He sunk down onto the wooden chair and supported his head in his left hand, the parchment tightly held in his right.

He re read the lines on the note to himself and shuddered at the prospect of what he knew was to come.

_Ron,_

_We NEED to get this done tonight. The table plan WILL NOT draw itself. It shouldn't take too long; it's only the slightly obscure relatives we've got to find places for!_

_DO NOT read this and disappear off somewhere! I WILL FIND YOU!_

_Te Amo_

_Hermione x_

He looked up at the large scroll of paper and unrolled it.

He sighed deeply, Hermione was right; there was only a short list of names on the right hand side still impatiently waiting to be seated somewhere in the reception hall.

After a few seconds he rubbed his eyes. The various names were each accompanied by a flashing dot: blue for muggle, red for wizard and purple for muggles who knew about wizards.

But that wasn't all. By far was that all!

In the middle of each table was a dot that was coloured according to the type of guests that were there: green was family, yellow was close friends who were considered family, turquoise was school friends, the luminous green (or 'snot green' as Ron insisted on calling it) was for family members who neither of them really wanted to invite but couldn't get out of doing so for one reason or another, and finally pink was work. This made Ron laugh, they were Aurors, a hard, demanding and dangerous job and Hermione had given the Auror table a pink dot.

He tore his eyes away from the multicoloured dots to the list at the side. He might as well try and have a go; Hermione had done most of it already.

He took his wand out of his cloak and then realised he hadn't as yet taken it off even though he had been in the house for five minutes now. He shook it off and it landed in a heap on the table.

He picked up his wand and jabbed the first name on the list – one of Hermione's great aunts who didn't have a clue about magic, was very deaf and quite a 'fussy old bag' as Hermione had said. It instantly became animated and followed Ron's wand tip as he moved it to the edge of the room.

Ron looked at the table arrangement and looked at one of the snot green-dotted tables furthest away from the top table and noticed the round circle was surrounded with names accompanied with blue dots, clearly a muggle only table. Ron smiled.

'This should be easy,' he said with a cocky smile on his face.

He moved his wand across the parchment and obediently the name followed. He jabbed the remaining place left at the chosen table and the name became solid.

Ron smiled at his achievement and was about to jab the next name on the list when Hermione's great aunt started pulsing an angry red, as did the person directly opposite her on the table.

'Huh?' Ron grunted when the flashing started. 'What the hell?'

He looked at the other name that had turned red, Hermione's Uncle Sol. He screwed up his eyes in concentration, trying to remember what Hermione had told him about her great uncle. His mind failed him though and he had to resort to looking through the dreaded notebook Hermione had written all the names of the people they had invited to the wedding, and all details about them.

He found the pad under the far end of the scroll (the parchment really was huge) and started thumbing through the pages, trying to find Hermione's great Aunt Helena and her great Uncle Sol.

After going through the entire book once and finding neither of them, he grunted in frustration and slowly started again.

Harry & Ginny; no, the direct Weasley family; no, the direct Granger family; no.

As the wedding guests became less and less easily recognised Ron slowed down, making sure he didn't miss either of them this time round.

'Oh you didn't try putting my Aunt Helena next to Uncle Sol did you Ron? Are you trying to start muggle World War Three?'

Ron had jumped at the voice but when he saw Hermione stood on the other side of the table grinning at him his heart rate returned to normal.

'I'm trying to find out why that would happen!' he replied, nose still buried in the notepad.

'I won't spoil the surprise!' Hermione said as she took off her cloak, picked up Ron's off the table and put them both in the clock room. She was turning around to walk back into the kitchen when,

'The dirty old sod!'

Hermione giggled.

'That's certainly one thing to call him!' she replied as she sat herself down opposite him. 'Oi you, you haven't said hello to me properly yet.'

'Sorry.'

He leant across the table and kissed her.

'Mum's not been yet,' he said as he closed the book and took another look at the multicoloured mess in front of him.

'No, she won't have, I spoke to her this afternoon asking if she could give us another half hour so we could at least attempt at getting this finished.'

'Ah okay. Well, my first attempt failed miserably, lets try a second.'

He glanced at Hermione and she raised her eyebrows. For the second time he jabbed Hermione's great aunt and she hovered under the movement of his wand.

'Right, lets see…if you won't go on _that_ family table you unforgiving old bat who's obviously had her sense of humour removed, you can go on that one, there's two spaces there!'

Ron jabbed the table across the room and watched as the name became solid again. He was about to get his hopes up when the name and those of three other family members started glowing red.

'Damn!' Ron exclaimed. 'Right, attempt thr-, hang on, there's nowhere else she can go! There's two places left on the school friend table, which isn't going to happen! One space on the Auror table, _that_ would be a memory charm and a half, and that's it! There's no more spaces!'

'Problem, isn't it?'

'Not if we un-invite her it isn't. We could do a simple memory charm and that would be it, the old bag would be none the wiser. Or we could put a fantastic set of wedding memories in her head and she would be happy then too!

'Believe me I thought of it but there's too much scope for complications with all the other family members who she does talk to. One of them might say something that might not tally up with what she'd remember and although she's as deaf as a post she's a stickler for detail. It'd never work.'

'Bollocks!'

'Ron, what have I told you about swearing at home?'

'She's not here!'

'I don't care!'

'Sorry. Won't happen again.'

'Good.'

Ron looked at the parchment again and scratched his head.

'Does your aunt drink?'

'Yes she does. Sherry by the bucketful.'

'Excellent, I have a solution.'

He picked up the pencil that was jammed into the spiral of wire at the top of the notepad and drew three circles just below a line that went from one side of the page to the other, along the top edge of the parchment.

'Ron what-?'

'Ah ah! Wait a sec.'

He put the pencil down and picked up his wand. He jabbed the aunt again, a little more forcibly this time and then jabbed the middle circle he had just drawn. The name became solid and Ron held his breath. After a few seconds nothing had happened and Ron grinned.

'She can sit at the bar! Problem solved!'

Hermione giggled. 'Ron, you can't sit my aunt at the bar, she'll have nowhere to eat her meal!'

'If we plough her with enough Sherry during that…bit…no one has a name for, the bit after the ceremony but before the speeches, then she won't notice anyone else is eating. Get a nice young man behind the bar and he can sweet-talk her through the whole thing whilst continually serving her Sherry!'

'You know, a month ago I would have hexed you for mentioning such a ridiculous plan, but at this stage I'm actually considering it!'

'See it's genius! Everyone wins!'

Hermione's smile slid as her gaze fell from her fiancé onto the multicoloured mess.

'We're going to have to redo the whole thing, aren't we?' Hermione said in a whine.

'_No_! That is something I _refuse_ to do. It'll be fine, I just haven't been looking at this in the right frame of mind. If I'd known it was gonna be this bloody challenging I'd have looked at it differently. Give me twenty minutes and it should be done.'

'Twenty minutes? You think you can get this sorted in twenty minutes, when it's taken me a week to get this far?'

'Is that a challenge fair maiden?' Ron replied with a grin.

'If you wish to take it as one then feel free to do so young sire, but I must leave you with your challenge, the answer phone's blinking like crazy!'

Hermione stood and walked to the other side of the kitchen where a neat and new answer machine was fixed to the wall, the cordless phone sat in it's cradle next to it. Hermione pressed the large button at the bottom and waited for the mechanical voice to echo through the room.

'You have five new messages…'

'Five!' Ron exclaimed without taking his eyes off the parchment. 'Oh, Merlin! That can't be good.'

'No,' Hermione agreed. 'It can't.'

'First new message, received today at thirteen forty-seven hours…' the broken voice said.

'Hermione, it's your mum, look Sharon's going to phone you this afternoon, she's just got off the phone to me, apparently there's some problem with the supplier she's using and the flowers may have to change slightly. Don't worry about it she'll make them look beautiful whatever you end up using, but I thought I'd just let you know. See you soon. Bye.'

The machine beeped indicating the end of the message.

Hermione sighed and closed her eyes.

'Have we figured out how we're gonna get the flowers from the muggle florist to the wizard venue yet?' Ron asked.

'No!' Hermione said with another sigh.

The mechanical voice announced the arrival of the second message and sure enough it was Sharon the florist phoning Hermione, asking her to go into the shop to discuss the newly arisen problem in the flower arrangements.

'What's the betting the other three messages are filled with wedding problems?' Hermione grumbled, more to herself than to Ron.

'Well, if I was a betting man, which I'm not-'

Hermione snorted.

'-then I'd say you're odds are quite good on that one and I'd be inclined to put money on it.'

Hermione sighed in frustration.

'Merlin! When did everything get so complicated? Why is organising a wedding so bloody stressful? I blame you!'

'What? How come I'm to blame!' Ron asked, dragging his attention from the parchment.

Hermione took a glance at it and saw that there were now more names unseated than actually had a chair and a place to eat their very expensive and very fussy three-course meal.

'You asked me to marry you! If you hadn't we wouldn't have a wedding to plan!'

Although her tone was harsh a smile played at the corner of her mouth and even though she tried hard not to let it take over her mouth, she failed. She grinned at him cheekily.

He smiled at her and turned back to his parchment.

'I'm not going to reply to that! I think it's safer if I get back to this mess.'

The machine beeped again.

'Third message, received today at fourteen, eleven hours…'

'Hermione, it's Rach. Just phoned to ask if there was any way we could rearrange the dress fitting tomorrow. I've just had a client on the phone in a frantic mess and they apparently _need_ to see me tomorrow afternoon. I tried to fob them off, I really did, but it didn't make the slightest bit of difference! Look, if you can't rearrange it – I know it's short notice – then I'll try and come after the dreaded meeting. Again, _really_ sorry! Bye!'

Hermione slumped against the cooker and slid down until she was sat on the floor.

'Rachel, you were the one I could rely on for keeping appointments!' Hermione whined.

'Apparently not!' Ron said with a smile.

'Apparently not,' she echoed.

'Fourth message, received today at fourteen, seventeen hours…'

'Hermione, it's your mum again.'

Hermione's head fell onto her knees and she let out a whimper.

'There's been a slight, er, disagreement shall we say between Aunt Helena and my cousin Joe, is there anyway that you can separate them at the reception?'

Ron's head hit the table with a small thump as he waved his wand over the parchment without looking at it. The last three names he had just placed at one table hovered back over to the list on the right hand side.

'Hopefully that isn't too much trouble. Speak to you soon. Bye.'

Hermione's head didn't rise from her knees as the fifth message was announced and started to play.

'Er, Ron, it's Charles.'

Ron took his head off the table and looked at Hermione, slightly confused.

'I was just wondering if I could see you this evening for an hour or so, there's just a few things I want to go through with you, things about the wedding. As I said, it'll only take an hour or so, but they're important things I want to discuss with you. If you could let me know if you're free. Cheers.'

Ron swallowed. 'You know after all this time and after everything that's happened I still get nervous when your dad asks to see me on my own!'

'Ron, stop worrying. I wish you'd accept the fact that my dad likes you!'

'No, I know he does, I just…you're his only daughter and I'm about to marry you! It's a big deal!'

'Okay, fair enough,' she replied with a smile.

Her smile faded when she realised she had numerous people to ring.

She walked back over to the table and picked up the huge notepad that Ron had been thumbing through earlier and turned to a list towards the back.

She grunted in frustration. 'This list has just grown to twice the size it was! I can't sort the flowers out 'til tomorrow. Rachel can't make the dress fitting, and oh, I forgot to say, the cake's now four tiers not three, and-'

'_Four!_ Why in Merlin's name do we need four?'

'Don't ask! Aah! This is so annoying!'

She folded her arms and she dropped her head on them. She mumbled something into her arms and Ron thought he had misheard her. She thought she had said a word that he thought was off limits.

'Did you just say what I think you just said?'

'What do you think I just said?' she asked, still mumbling into her arms.

'Did you just say the e word?'

She raised her head and looked at him.

'I might have.'

'But…I never thought…I mean, after everything we said…are you serious?'

'When I see messes like this table plan and the length of lists of things that are going wrong, it's sometimes hard to push the thought from my mind.'

'But we can't… …can we?'

'No…no I don't think…no…can we?'

'It would mean absolutely no hassle, no table plans, no relatives we barely know…'

'True, but it also means no parents to give me away, no best friends to share the memories with afterwards. That's why we said no in the first place.'

'Said no to what?' Molly had just arrived in the kitchen and Ron and Hermione both jumped in their seats.'

'Merlin Mum! You nearly gave us heart attacks!' Ron started to shout but soon lowered his tone at the glare off his mother.

'Didn't you hear me shout through after I'd flooed?'

'Obviously not!' Ron retorted.

Molly gave her youngest son another glare and turned her attention to Hermione. Ron stood up and offered his mother his seat.

'Oh thank you Ronnie, but I won't, I'm not staying, the dinner's cooking. How are you Hermione, dear?'

'I'm fine thank you Molly.'

Molly turned back to face Ron.

'What did you say no to, Ron?'

Hermione noticed Ron's ears turn the slightest shade of pink.

'Oh that…nothing really, just…we said no to…no to the twin's offer to DJ at the wedding.'

'Yes well, I've already told you I thought that was a wise decision. The thought of Fred and George being in charge of the entertainment isn't something that fills me with calm. Anyway I must get back. If ever you need anymore time I'm more than willing.'

She looked at Ron and then Hermione and then tears filled her eyes.

'Mum what's wrong?' Ron asked in a shocked voice. He still hadn't quite got used to the fact that his mum could go from perfectly happy to crying in a matter of seconds.

'Oh nothing Ronnie, just being silly, I'm just looking forward to the wedding, it's been such a long time in coming and I know it'll all be beautiful.'

Hermione gave Molly a nervous smile.

'Well I really must be off now. I'll see you two tomorrow.'

'Bye Molly,' Hermione replied.

'Be careful flooing home mum,' Ron said.

Molly dismissed the comment with a wave of her hand and bustled out of sight.

Ron looked at Hermione and knew exactly what she was thinking.

She gave him a resigned smile.

'Back to the table plan eh?' she said quietly.

'Back to the table plan, but first, come here.'

She smiled and stood up. She walked around the table to him and he pulled her into a hug.

They stood entwined for thirty seconds before Ron saw the kitchen door open an inch. He smiled and waited for the inevitable.

Sure enough, three seconds later he felt something attach itself to his leg.

'Hermione, something's on my leg.'

She turned her head so she was looking at him directly in the eyes.

'Yes, there seems to be something on mine too.'

'I wonder what it can be!' Ron replied.

There was a tutting noise.

'Daddy, you are silly!'

Both Ron and Hermione giggled and smiled at each other before looking down at the mass of brown curls that was their daughter's hair.

'Sorcha Claire Weasley you are getting far too cheeky for your own good. I'm afraid I may have to tickle some of that cheek out of you!'

Sorcha squealed and let go of her mum and dad. She set off to the other end of the kitchen. Ron quickly followed, chasing the four-year-old with his arms wide ready to scoop her up. Sorcha squeaked again as she looked over her shoulder and saw her dad coming after her.

Hermione smiled as she watched her fiancé chase their daughter. There was no other sight she loved more than seeing him with her. He adored her, there was no other word for it. The two of them continued to run around her, Ron getting close to Sorcha before comically stumbling, which sent Sorcha into fits of giggles, but still she kept running.

Hermione's glance fell to the multicoloured mess of the table plan and she smiled. She wasn't sure how she'd feel if Sorcha decided to elope when she was older, the thought of missing that special day wasn't something she wanted to think about, she remembered why they had made the decision in the first pace. Family was important to them both; it would feel extremely wrong to do something as special as getting married without them there. It still didn't make her feel any better about the mountain of problems she still had to sort through.

With one final reach Ron caught his daughter around the middle and picked her up easily. He tucked her under his arm, and started to walk around the kitchen like there was nothing unusual about what he was doing.

'Daddy let me go!' Sorcha shrieked.

'Hermione did you hear something?'

Hermione giggled.

'No, I didn't, did you?'

'Mummy, make daddy put me down!'

Ron took hold of his daughter around her middle and easily put her over his shoulder, causing her to shriek even more.

'If she throws up you're cleaning it up!' Hermione said with a 'you know I'll make you' look.

Not wishing to change his shirt – the smell of sick never did leave clothes even after they had been scourgified - he took Sorcha off his shoulder and stood her on the table.

'Did you have a fun day at Grandma and Granddad's?' Ron asked.

'Yeah! Granddad let me help him take apart the Hoover cleaner!'

Hermione shut her eyes and shook her head, smiling at the thought.

'Aha! So that's why there's fluff in your ears! We'll have to get that out!' Ron said with a grin as his index finger advanced on his daughter's ear.

She giggled and pushed his hand away.

'Can I go and watch telly?' Sorcha asked as she looked back and forth between her mum and her dad.

'For a little while,' Hermione replied pulling her daughter to her and carefully picking her up off the table and setting her down on the floor. 'Not too loud though, okay?'

'_Yes!_'

Ron stifled a giggle as Sorcha ran off into the lounge in triumph.

'I think the last ten minutes put our previous conversation in perspective didn't it? We couldn't do it, could we?' he said with a smile.

'No, we couldn't. I was thinking, we'd be devastated if Sorcha did it, wouldn't we?'

Ron smiled and looked at the doorway his daughter had just walked through.

'Yeah we would. Ah well, this table plan's not going to sort itself out is it?'

'It certainly isn't!'

Hermione stayed standing as Ron sat himself down and jabbed the piece of parchment a few more times. When she didn't sit down he looked at her and gave her a quizzical smile.

'What?' he asked.

She smiled.

'Well if you told me on the night you proposed that it would be nearly six and a half years 'til we actually got round to getting married I don't think I would have believed it! I certainly didn't have a long engagement in mind!'

Ron smiled. 'Me neither, but I think we can safely say we wouldn't have had things any other way, even if they weren't as we planned.'

'True, and I can't think of anything I'd love more than to have our daughter precede me down the aisle scattering petals and waiting with you for me at the other end.'

'I can't either. It sounds perfect.'

He jabbed a name on the parchment and sat it at a table. His eyes widened.

'I've got it!' he exclaimed.

A minute later all the names were sat at the tables and, more importantly, none of them were pulsing an angry red.

'Is that it?' Hermione asked disbelievingly.

'I think it is. No one's angry about where they're sat and there's no one left over!'

'Well, if you're this good at wedding arrangements then I'll have to get you to sort some of the others out too!'

'Oh no no no! Organising people into tables I can do, but asking me to sort out flowers and cakes and…stuff is not my thing!'

'No, maybe not, but you do still have to go and see my dad, remember?'

Ron stomach squirmed a little.

'Do you think if I take his granddaughter, it'll help my cause?'

'Ron stop worrying! It's not as if you're going to tell him you got his only daughter pregnant right before she's about to start her final year of Auror training!'

A grin slid across her face. Ron laughed.

'Merlin that was scary! I don't think I was that scared when we realised we were off to fight snake head!'

'Yes, it was a bit intense, wasn't it? But I think the way he was with you then shows you how much he respects you.'

'Yeah I suppose you're right. I'm still taking Sorcha though!'

Hermione laughed but stopped when she heard her daughter giggling to herself in the lounge. Her smile widened.

'What's the betting she does that through the entire ceremony?' Ron asked with a giggle.

'Well if she's inherited as much of her father's love for giggling as I suspect she has, then I'd say there was a very good chance.'

Ron stood up and leaned over the table. Hermione did the same and caught his lips in hers. Hermione let all the troubles the wedding was causing her fade away, and reminded herself of exactly why she was putting up with them. She loved the man she was kissing and she wanted to solidify the promise they made to each other six years ago.

Her hand played in his hair and he ran his through her curls.

'Muuum, Daaad stop it!'

They laughed into each other's mouth and pulled back from each other. They looked over at their daughter and saw a huge grin on her face.

'Well if she doesn't giggle through the ceremony, we know at what point she'll start!'

'As long as her dad doesn't, I won't mind in the slightest!'

'And what happens if her dad does?'

She grinned at him mischievously.

'If her dad dares to laugh during our first kiss as husband wife, her dad won't be able to walk back up the aisle properly.'

'In which case her dad will be a perfect example of composure.'

…oooOOOooo…

_Saturday 9th June 2006_

She would definitely remember this kiss. Yes, this was one she would never forget. It wasn't much different to kisses they'd shared before, in fact it was very similar, but normally kisses like this were kept in private, this one however was being witnessed by a lot of people and they didn't mind one bit that they were being watched.

After half a minute they pulled back.

'Told you I wouldn't laugh!'

Hermione smiled and looked over her shoulder to their flower girl stood behind her. She smiled and turned back to look at Ron.

'Told you _she_ would!

* * *

**Well that was the epilogue to 'Losing Sight of a Heartfelt Dream'. I had much fun writing it even though it took a bit more enegry than I thought it would!**

**So fics coming up are: The sequel to 'The Seven Ways I Cry', and there are a few more in the pipeline. 'Together Forever' is now my main focus and seeing as though it's going down well it will obviously continue. There's also the fic I'm co-authoring on Live Journal with Solstice Muse, drop me a line if you're having trouble finding it!**

**Thank you to those who review, it really gave me encouragement to continue, especially when I was having a crisi of confidnce about half way through it. If you could just do it one more time for this one, it would be much appreciated.**

**Well that's it for now, more to come soon :D**

**Cheers! Step ;)**


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